《Eve of Gods》


 -1 Pato Correction

    First of all, this is an auxiliary chapter correcting some of my errors!


    New Readers? Skip it. You don''t really need to read this chapter.


    Now, for old readers, why did I have to post this chapter?


    Well, personally, I love constructive criticism from readers where they point out my errors in logic or what I am not doing right. There was this great kind hearted reader named "Pato" on Royal Road, who helped me by taking out enough time to give advice to me on a whole bunch of things I could have done better. That is why, I didn''t post a chapter yesterday. I read all my chapters again.


    I have now re-edited a lot of them. I changed a lot of things, so I am making a list of all the changes in this chapter so that you don''t have to go and re-read.


    In Prologue:


    Also, hundred years in the future, Computer Science has changed. There are no more real programmers. That is the job of AIs, Ahan was doing B.E in Virtual Reality.


    These changes were what I had already planned to make!


    In Chapter One- New God Maugus:


    Pato Corrections begins. He pointed out there was no explanation of Ahan''s skills as a God.


    Why he was able to travel between two different worlds? I also realized that I made him just wave his goddamned shining hands with white light with no explanation and BAM! He was in the other world. So, this what I have changed in the first chapter:


    "He fought them both, so that all the races of this world could take their fate in their own hands, whether they destroy themselves, or continue to prosper. He lost in this war of faith, and reincarnated as Ahan in the other world called Earth, to save his life. Though, apparently this disaster came as a blessing in disguise.


    As now his Earthling body was imbued with all the divinity of his previous body of a god from this world. His unprecedented situation granted him an ability that no God in this world would ever possess; the ability to be able to travel through the void between two different worlds without losing himself in the process or suffering from the suppression of the will of the other world.


    As a god from a different world, if he entered another world he would inevitably have to face suppression from the will of that world! But, now he had a body of an Earthling which had a soul from the Other world. Technically, he was an anomaly who belonged to both worlds.


    This loophole granted him abilities which were beyond the imagination of all the Gods of this world. Though, now that he was back in this world, his Divine Kingdom was shattering and on the verge of destruction and the divinity that he had been imbued with was already borderline unstable, to the point where after a while he might not even be able to maintain his form and die."


    The white shining light signified the use of Divinity in my mind. So, to the next chapter!


    In Chapter Two- Game Development:


    Pato also gave a lot of suggestions on how I could have improved the Game Development chapter.


    1. How the readers could get a feel for how much time and effort was spent creating this framework in order to allow the souls of players from Earth to be transported to and from the Mortal World?


    2. What is a battle server? How I should explain the meaning behind my made-up term!


    3. How my players should not have infinite re-spawning anymore.


    Quoting Pato: "Ahan must recoup the energy spent respawning them somehow."


    So after applying his suggestions, I have made the following changes:


    "What is a battle system, you would ask? Well, the entire gaming company he was about to make would have only one person; him!


    A battle server was something like a cloud-based server-hosting service that was specifically tailored for his fake VR game by his faith energy. As he could neither afford to purchase nor maintain his own server bank, he would conveniently use his faith energy to do it!"


    Another change:


    "But, after dying, the players would have to pay the cost of their re-spawn corresponding to their level and they would have to face a two hour time-span for re-spawning, so that when their souls return to their rightful bodies, there are no permanent side-effects to their mind.


    Ahan was also unable to infinitely re-spawn the players so he decided to adopt this method of taking a corresponding amount of faith coins to their level to re-spawn. The amount of faith coins needed for re-spawning would be so significant that the players would dread dying and would be more careful. This way Ahan could avoid having to re-spawn them again and again to a particular point."


    Another change:


    "The image was a square formation with an Om(Aum) symbol on the inside in the other world''s calligraphy, making it look extremely mysterious. With this, when the player download his game, the content of the fake game will be sent to the virtual reality headset of the player. Then, the image of the formation with the symbol of Om will automatically appear in the soul of the player, branding him/her and their spirit will be sucked into the battle server.


    In the battle server, the soul of the players will be imbued with a tinge of his faith energy, which would make their souls, technically, a native of The Mortal World as well. The souls of players, once branded and imbued with a tinge of his faith energy, would be able to travel through the void between the two worlds without losing themselves in the process.


    Next, from the battle server, their souls will be sent straight to his Divine Kingdom where they will configure their avatars and descend unto the Mortal World. With this secure plan, there was no way that the players from Earth would ever know that they were in an entirely different world. They would just think that it was all part of the VR game with very realistic graphics and perfect simulation."


    Another one:


    "[ Eve of Gods : Visit the World of Maugus, a land of pure magic, mystery, gods and mythical creatures.


    Tread the path of a Champion of God Maugus who seeks glory and power! Battle for your right to exist!


    This game has been carefully developed by this website for a period of 3 years, almost achieving a 100% near perfect simulation.


    Genre: MMORPG


    Price: (Beta-version) Free to play


    Storage required: 5 TB ]


    All that "game data" was stuffed in by Ahan randomly, and the Eve of Gods on the game platform was just a farce to cover up the fact that it was fake VR Game. Only once the players have successfully gone through the process of soul branding would they be able to log-in the game i.e only when their souls had arrived in their respective Avatars would they be able to actually start the game!


    Ahan checked everything for the last time and pressed on the ''Enter'' key.


    In a split second, Ahan''s game had been successfully uploaded onto the internet platform."


    Last one:


    "[You have died in the game, please wait for 2 hours to re-spawn.]


    [You are a Bronze Grade player. The cost of your re-spawn is 100 faith coins.]


    [NOTE: With every increase in Grade, the cost will multiply tenfold(10x).] "


    So, these were the important changes I made. I have also applied these important changes to all the other chapters. To all readers, your constructive criticism is always welcome.


    For all we know, YOU might be the next Pato who motivates me(forces me) to re-edit all my chapters!


    P.S: For anyone who wants to read, here is the copy of his pro-level contructive criticism. I absolutely love this comment, it could have been a great review. Lmao.


    "Hey, that''s great! Authors who can take constructive criticism are less likely to stop writing. I''d like it if you didn''t stop writing.


    I think you ought to work on the explanation of Ahan''s skills as a God. Currently, all I know is that he waved his hands around, and the game''s system appeared out of nowhere.


    Even if it''s not that detailed, I think it would be better if the readers could get a feel for how much time and effort was spent creating this framework in order to allow the souls of players from Earth to be transported to and from the Mortal World. Just adding something like "The souls of players, once branded, would be able to travel through the void between worlds without losing themselves in the process." would be better than leaving the explanation as what is written here:


    Then, the image of the formation with the symbol of Om will automatically appear in the soul of the player, branding him/her and their spirit will be sucked into the battle server. From there, it''ll be sent straight to his Divine Kingdom.


    Also, what is a battle server? This is never explained, and I don''t know if it exists in real life or if it''s an Indian thing or if you just made up the term and it actually has no meaning. If you make something up please at least give readers a vague idea of its function.


    Based on what you use it for, I imagine that a battle server is something like a cloud-based server-hosting service that is specifically tailored for use by game companies that can''t afford to purchase and maintain their own server banks. Obviously doing something like that isn''t cheap, so it''s probable that many independent developers and small companies would use this service.


    He registered a gaming company with the name of "Pantheon" and developed a gaming website which he connected with his system and battle server. He pulled up the back-end management system of his gaming website, keyed in the QR Code of his battle server, and while he was at it, he specially added an image.


    It gets a bit confusing when you refer to the "game" as an actual game here, since it''s told to us that what Ahan programmed definitely isn''t a video game; it''s more like a soul branding and transportation algorithm powered by his divine energies. The "content" of the "game" exists in reality somewhere else, so it''s not like any of the "content" needs to be downloaded; only the player''s soul needs to be tampered with in any manner.


    Maybe you should also explain how exactly Ahan''s God powers interact with the code he wrote for the game files. Are they somehow infused with his power because magic is magic, or are there many codified prayers to Maugus interspersed throughout the code? I think the latter is a more satisfying explanation, if you plan to go 100% supernatural with the magic and divine abilities in this story. Often, supernatural powers operate on logic that doesn''t hold up to rational investigation, but sounds fine if you know something about folklore and fairy tales.


    The image was a square formation with an Om(Aum) symbol on the inside in the other world''s calligraphy, making it look extremely mysterious. With this, when the player downloads his game, the content of the game will be sent to the virtual reality headset of the player.


    TL;DR it would be fantastic if you could expound further on Ahan''s abilities as a God, the process by which he created his fake VR game, and how his power interacts with the souls of players.


    You should probably also consider making it so that Ahan is unable to infinitely respawn players with the same two-hour waiting interval, since it doesn''t make sense that transporting souls to and from a different world takes zero energy investment on his part. Since this entire system is based upon his power as a God, it ought to consume his power to perform its functions.


    Maybe the respawn timer becomes lengthier if you die multiple times within one day or something. Or players lose some of their divine energy (levels) when they die, because Ahan must recoup the energy spent respawning them somehow."

 2 New God Maugus

    Ahan teleported to a semi-plane. He looked around and this semi-plane was like a whole new empty dimension in the void with no signs of life. Suddenly, a huge amount of buried memories in his mind surfaced. He started assimilating with all these memories of countless eons! He was in a Divine Kingdom. His Divine Kingdom.


    Contrary to the popular trend of unlucky fellow World Travelers who arrived anywhere randomly in a new world and started from scratch, he had traveled to a Divine Kingdom and he had become a god!


    Once again, with his hand shining with white blinding light, he drew Om in the air.


    He was back! Sitting on his bed with a laptop on his lap, back on Earth.


    He drew Om again, and there! He was back to his Divine Kingdom again.


    But Ahan did not think that he was all that lucky; in fact if he had the choice, he would rather switch places with those other World Travelers, Transmigrators or Reincarnators in a heartbeat.


    Why, you would ask? Because atleast they could start afresh in a new world! New world, new beginning.


    With his memories gradually assimilating with him, everything made sense. He was God Maugus, the second member of the Supreme Gods Trinity. He maintained the order and harmony of the world, which is periodically created by Brom and periodically destroyed by Siva to prepare for the next creation of the Mortal World. They did this so that the mortals could never escape their fate of being controlled by the Gods! When the human civilization reached the inevitable point of being powerful enough to be able to overthrow their Gods, Destroyer Siva would destroy the whole Mortal World for another cycle and that is how the three of them had always reigned as Supreme Gods!


    Maugus was worshiped in many forms and in several avatars (incarnations). He was an important, somewhat mysterious god. Less visible than nature gods that preside over elements (such as fire and rain), Maugus was the pervader ¡ª the divine essence that pervades the world.


    He was usually worshiped in the form of his various avatars.


    He was the only god in this world that had the ability of divine descent, descending to the world in the form of avatars.


    Avatars were savior forms of God Maugus that descended to the World to intervene whenever help was needed to restore dharma (moral order) and peace. Eventually, Maugus got tired of watching the looping cycle of Brom creating the world and Siva destroying the world while he tried to always keep the human civilization''s progress to a minimum. He started to believe that even if the humans progressed to be powerful enough to overthrow them, Gods will not fall!


    As Gods were the fundamental law of the Mortal World itself. They were the eventual evolution of all immortal level beings in the Mortal World! Therefore, there was no point restraining the Mortal World''s power by destroying it time and again.


    He fought the other two Supreme Gods in a war of faith, so that all the races of the Mortal World could take their fate in their own hands, whether they destroy themselves, or continue to prosper. However, he lost in this war of faith, and reincarnated as Ahan in the other world called Earth, to save his life. Apparently though, this disaster came as a blessing in disguise as now his Earthling body was imbued with a tinge of the divinity of his previous body of a God from this world.


    His unprecedented situation granted him an ability that no God in this world would ever possess; the ability to be able to travel through the void between two different worlds without losing himself in the process or suffering from the suppression of the will of the other world.


    As a god from a different world, if he entered another world he would inevitably have to face suppression from the will of that world! But, now he had a body of an Earthling which had a soul from a God of the Mortal World.


    Technically, he was an anomaly who belonged to both worlds!


    This loophole granted him abilities which were beyond the imagination of all the Gods of this world. Though, now that he was back in the Mortal World, his Divine Kingdom was shattering and almost on the verge of destruction! Moreover, the backup Divinity and Godhood that he had left here was already borderline unstable, to the point where if he merged with them to once again ascend as a God, soon after he might not even be able to keep his power as a God and die.


    This was because after his fall, his strong and thriving church fell and disbanded in the blink of an eye -- most of his believers killed and the rest converted. In this world filled with different gods, being an atheist in itself was an act of heresy.


    All of the races believed in one god or the other, and from this faith the Gods derived their power. With his church destroyed, the God of Harmony and Order, Maugus, couldn''t even stabilize and merge with his Divinity and Godhood. He was only alive and able to travel between the two worlds because of his last devout believer left in this world, steadily providing him with faith energy; his last Saintess, Nandini.


    But, even she was in trouble. She was fighting believers of other weak Gods, hell bent on destroying his last church in the Eastern Island, so that their Gods could find the location of his Divine Kingdom and devour his remaining Divinity and Godhood.


    It was Nandini''s praying voice that he heard on Earth and remembered everything. He had to save her. If it were the Old God Maugus facing the same mess as he was, he would probably only be able to close his eyes and wait for his inevitable death.


    But, this New God Maugus was different. As your standard webnovel writer from Earth, his creativity was unmatched in this world!


    First of all, improvising on his VR simulation skills he used his faith energy to measure the amount of faith energy left, chalking it up to hundred degree. As for why he did not set it as just one degree, it was because he found that the faith energy he had left was too powerful. If he were to convert it all to raw energy and throw it at the Mortal World, it would probably be able to immediately disintegrate a city of millions, more or less the power of a nuclear bomb.


    If he wanted to stabilize and merge with his Divinity and Godhood, he would have to rack up at least a thousand degrees of faith energy constantly from his believers by a ritual of sacrifice through the Divinity Altar. In this world, the Gods had control over a variety of different fundamental world laws which formed the natural order of the Mortal World, but at the very core, each God was composed of three basic fundamental laws: Divine Mercy, Divine Power, and Divine Law.


    To put it simply, through Divine Mercy, a God could communicate with his believers in the Mortal World in the form of prophecies or revelations! There were a lot of Sanths and Sadhus in India, who would make statements to the media like:


    "Yesterday, at night, God came into my dream and told me that 1000 tons of Gold is buried under Fatima Mahal!"


    The whole of India would always break into an uproar and the Archaeology Department would be sent to confirm if that was indeed true or not due to the pressure from the hardcore bhakt public.


    It was through Divine Mercy that Gods rewarded their believers by imbuing them with strength and power, which was basically forcefully increasing their grade. Priests and clergy of their church would also call upon the God''s power through the law of Divine Mercy to perform spells and divine feats in the Mortal World.


    Divine Power was a God''s right of power, it was the most fundamental law of the Mortal World''s will. This power was of a threshold that mortals who had not bonded with the World Will could never encroach, or even think of tainting.


    Divine punishment was an extension of this trait. If any Mortal ever tried to encroach on the authority of the Gods, they would face Heavenly Lightening Tribulation from the World''s Will!


    Divine Law or Godhood was the basis of a God''s divinity -- it was a power so great that it was on the same level as the laws of Mortal World itself. For example, The God of Fire, Agni could ignore whether a volcano was dormant or active and make it spit lava, as long as it is part of their sphere of influence, Gods could single-handedly affect the natural laws of the world! It was through their domains that Gods in the Mortal World would always have huge amount of believers in a race that was innately talented in their domain or sphere of influence!


    Ahan had an advantage here as he had an additional trait, Divine Descent. The old him, used it to descend himself in the world.


    But, as webnovel writer, he could not allow such a powerful ability to go waste.


    He would use his remaining faith energy to make a system and a server. With the help of virtual reality, he would create the best game on Earth. He would transport players from Earth straight to this world and use them as his countless immortal warrior avatars to take back everything he had lost in this world!

 3 Game Developmen

    Having written his fair share of Webnovels and designed many VR games on Earth, Ahan knew how hard it was to design a virtual reality game. A VR game needed a set of systems from a variety of games such as role-playing, trading, adventure, life simulation, and more! There was also the issue of re-spawning dead players.


    First of all, Ahan used all of his remaining faith energy to create a system linked with a battle server.


    What is a battle server, you would ask? Well, the entire gaming company he was about to make would have only one person; him!


    A battle server was something like a cloud-based server-hosting service that was specifically tailored for his fake VR game by his faith energy. As he could neither afford to purchase nor maintain his own server bank, he would conveniently use his faith energy to do it!


    In the system he linked with his battle server, he made clear the core algorithms with which his game would work properly on faith energy.


    Now, his second problem was the perpetual consumption of faith energy required for this system to run without a hitch.


    He set a core algorithm for that. All game elements will have a tinge of faith energy, In-game currency, faith coins, player''s equipment and so on. The creatures killed in the Mortal World by players would be sacrificed to him, which would provide him with faith energy and the players with experience points to level up.


    His third problem was the issue of the players and their re-spawning. The Old God Maugus used his ability of Divine Descent to form avatars for himself to go down to the Mortal World because it required a strong soul to use these avatars. But, during his stay on Earth, Ahan had realized that all earthlings have a strong soul.


    In essence, Experience Points were derived from faith energy. Upon receiving sacrifices from his avatars, he would be able to split the faith energy obtained into two: 80% would be kept in his Divine Kingdom, while 20% would be given to the player who did the sacrifice through their Path of Faith in the form of Divine Mercy. As the energy continues to accumulate, the faith energy would be converted into a form of energy that could be used by the players, i.e: leveling up.


    His greatest power was to create an army of Immortal Avatars who had the ability for unlimited growth until Legendary level made from faith energy, which was not visible to the naked eye. It did not require any matter, but only the presence of souls. His player''s bodies could be renewed after death, without a decline in their levels.


    He made a core algorithm which would be responsible for when a player dies, the divine power in them will not be erased. It will be saved into the server of his game and when the player re-spawns, that divine power and their soul will automatically be sent to their new avatar.


    But, after dying, the players would have to pay the cost of their re-spawn corresponding to their grade and they would have to face a two hour time-span for re-spawning, so that when their souls return to their rightful bodies, there are no permanent side-effects to their mind.


    Ahan was also unable to infinitely re-spawn the players so he decided to adopt this method of taking a corresponding amount of faith coins to their grade to re-spawn. The amount of faith coins needed for re-spawning would be so significant that the players would dread dying and would be more careful. This way Ahan could avoid having to re-spawn them again and again to a particular point.


    He would also brand the player''s soul with his Om Symbol, so when they start his game, they are loyal to him or even if they aren''t, he could kill them with a snap of his finger.


    With these systems in place, his game would work without any problems, while also allowing him to earn enough faith energy to stabilize and merge with his Divinity and Godhood, and rise through the ranks of gods once again!


    ________


    2140, Earth


    Ahan opened his eyes. He was back in his room with a laptop on his lap.


    He quickly started on the process of development of his game. He could finally use the skills he learned in 3 years of college, VR Simulation and entrepreneurship. He had a renewed hope on his lofty dreams of earning a fortune in this world and making his parent''s proud!


    He registered a gaming company with the name of "Pantheon" and developed a gaming website which he connected with his system and battle server. He pulled up the back-end management of the Content Management System(CMS) of his gaming website which he coded in PHP and Core Java, they were the most popular programming languages even in the 22nd Century, PHP 13.0 was the most stable version of the langauge! It could be used in collaboration with all kinds of technology related fields like VR and AI.


    Ahan then started coding his battle server in PHP which was infused with his Divinity and Godhood through his faith energy, there were many codified prayers to God Maugus interspersed throughout the code, he linked this battle server with his gaming website and while he was at it, he specially added an image.


    The image was a square formation with an Om(Aum) symbol on the inside in the other world''s calligraphy, making it look extremely mysterious. With this, when the player download his game, the content of the fake game will be sent to the virtual reality headset of the player. Then, the image of the formation with the symbol of Om will automatically appear in the soul of the player, branding him/her and their spirit will be sucked into the battle server.


    In the battle server, the soul of the players will be imbued with a tinge of his faith energy, which would make their souls, technically, a native of The Mortal World as well. The souls of players, once branded and imbued with a tinge of his faith energy, would be able to travel through the void between the two worlds without losing themselves in the process.


    Next, from the battle server, their souls will be sent straight to his Divine Kingdom where they will configure their avatars and descend unto the Mortal World. With this secure plan, there was no way that the players from Earth would ever know that they were in an entirely different world. They would just think that it was all part of the VR game with very realistic graphics and perfect simulation.


    In this 22nd Century, where technology was advancing day and night, and since the invention of the virtual reality headset, it had become increasingly important for all of the VR game developing companies to constantly find ways to improve the graphics of the games.


    As long as he declared that the simulation of his game was near perfect, no one would be able to dig up any problems at all. As the virtual intrusion hackers could never make a public statement against him or sue him! Ahan gave an evil laugh as he reached the most important step of the game development process.


    "What should I name the game?" Ahan questioned himself.


    ''Eve of Gods'', he nodded to himself. He once again pulled up the back-end management system of his website, uploaded a mysterious icon from the other world for the game and typed in the words ''Eve of Gods'' into the empty text box under the title line.


    [ Eve of Gods : Visit the World of Maugus, a land of pure magic, mystery, gods and mythical creatures.


    Tread the path of a Champion of God Maugus who seeks glory and power! Battle for your right to exist!


    This game has been carefully developed by this website for a period of 3 years, almost achieving a 100% near perfect simulation.


    Genre: MMORPG


    Price: (Beta-version) Free to play


    Storage required: 5 TB ]


    All that "game data" was stuffed in by Ahan randomly, and the Eve of Gods on the game platform was just a farce to cover up the fact that it was fake VR Game. Only once the players have successfully gone through the process of soul branding would they be able to log-in the game i.e only when their souls had arrived in their respective Avatars would they be able to actually start the game!


    Ahan checked everything for the last time and pressed on the ''Enter'' key.


    In a split second, Ahan''s gaming website had been successfully uploaded onto the quantum network of Earth!

 4 Player One

    2140, Earth


    Asjad Iqbal exited the game with a frustrated and defeated face and started the update for the game PubG: VR Online.


    PubG was currently the most popular game in India. The number of players was practically overflowing. It occupied a staggering 36% of the overall Indian VR game market. Its level of simulation had reached 40%. It was rich in content and had a very wide audience across all age groups in India. I mean, who wouldn''t like sky diving to land on an Island, then getting involved in a PvP alone or in a squad, killing the 90+ other players with the most high-tech, state of the art weapons in a Virtual Reality environment.


    It was the best stress buster and Asjad was one of the most loyal PubG fans! But the fact was that it was not an MMORPG game. Since the time Asjad came into contact with ancient games like World of Warcraft or Star Wars: The Old Republic on his PC, he had been absolutely obsessed with them. He had always found himself unknowingly pondering about what affect would an almost real MMORPG VR have on society!


    A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game! As in all role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a character (often in a fantasy world or sci-fi world) and takes control over many of that character''s actions.


    MMORPGs are distinguished from single-player or small multi-player online RPGs by the number of players able to interact together, and by the game''s persistent world (usually hosted by the game''s publisher), which continues to exist and evolve while the player is offline and away from the game. With concepts like NPC, GNS Theory, Dialogue tree, Player Character, Status, Quest and Social Interaction in MMORPGs, it would be an epoch making game!


    Even in the ancient MMORPGs on PC, Social Interaction would take the form of in-game communication, virtual behaviors, and the development of interpersonal and group relationships. In massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), cooperation between players to accomplish difficult tasks is often an integral mechanic of gameplay, and organized groups of players, often called guilds, clans, or factions, emerge.


    Sometimes the relationships players from within the game spill over into friendships or romantic relationships in the material world. In other instances, romantic partners and groups of material world friends find that playing together strengthens their bonds.


    If there was any VR game almost similar to reality! It would be less of a "game" but more of another world altogether!


    He went to grab some Doritos for snacks, then scrolled through his browser looking for a new VR game and randomly picked a new gaming website that his personally coded crawler found online. When he saw the game introduction, he was shocked!


    "What a coincidence! I was just thinking about a VR MMO with near perfect simulation and I find this!? What are the chances?" He suddenly laughed out loud and choked on his Doritos, almost coughing it out.


    [ Eve of Gods : Visit the World of Maugus, a land of pure magic, mystery, gods and mythical creatures.


    Tread the path of a Champion of God Maugus who seeks glory and power! Battle for your right to exist!


    This game has been carefully developed by this website for a period of 3 years, almost achieving a 100% near perfect simulation.


    Genre: MMORPG


    Price: (Beta-version) Free to play


    Storage required: 5 TB ]


    A game of 5TB(standard memory for all VR Games) that has reached almost 100% near perfect simulation, and this was confirmed by the small gaming company itself, not to mention the free beta entry. If it was any other day, he might have immediately closed the tab after abusing in the comments!


    But, Asjad Iqbal was a typical Indian and he firmly believed in things like coincidence and superstitions!


    "The most that could happen was it would be a sham! But if it was real, then it would be a great find which could probably change his life!"


    With this thought, Asjad willingly pressed the button to download the game.


    5TB was nothing compared to the current speed of the internet, it was only a matter of minutes before the download was complete. He stuffed the rest of the cheese nachos into his mouth and put on his virtual reality headset.


    A list of game icons appeared on the lens of the headset including the still updating PubG: VR Online.


    He moved his pupils to the side to skim through the icons straight to the one for Eve of Gods. Asjad smiled, fully preparing himself for what could be another great disappointment. As the game started, the body of Asjad in the real world lost control.


    However, in his mind, an icon of a formation of Om(Aum) character appeared right before him and a feeling of weightlessness greeted him.


    When he finally opened his eyes, a bright light emerged with a ringing sound.


    [Welcome to the World of Maugus!]


    [Generating game account, please wait a moment.]


    [Synchronizing your brainwaves and bio-metrics to your account. Please note that only one character can be created per person! If you wish to create another character, you must delete your current character before you can create a new one! Once you have created a new character, you cannot create a new one within the next month and a new character cannot be deleted within its first week!]


    [Account creation successful!]


    [Welcome to the Eastern Islands! Champion of God Maugus, the Church is in dire need of your assistance! After God Maugus lost in the war over faith between the Supreme Gods Trinity.


    His religion has been cornered to their last bastion and is on the verge of destruction.


    Seek glory and power, battle for the church and your right to exist!]


    A scene played out in front of him. Countless humans and different races fighting in a war over faith. Soldiers on both sides dying in massive numbers. God Maugus fighting with the other two gods; Brom and Siva, inside his Divine Kingdom. God Maugus''s believers killed mercilessly even while losing with no signs of surrender until his eventual fall. After which, they were one sidedly slaughtered to the last man by the alliance army of all the other gods!


    "Please select your class!" said a soft, feminine voice of the system.


    After the story-line faded away, three templates of character classes surfaced before Asjad''s eyes.


    A powerful knight with an enormous one-handed sword, a wizard with a staff, and a rogue with a dagger stood in front of him.


    Asjad was stunned for a moment. Then, he reached out and chose the one with the powerful knight''s figure.


    "Character, Knight confirmed!" the voice continued. "Please enter your character''s name!"


    "Asjad Iqbal."


    "Character name, Asjad Iqbal confirmed."


    As the system sound paused, the scene changed and a figure that was a mirror image of him appeared. "This is the character created based on your physical characteristics, you can modify and change the facial complexion by using the system''s user interface!"


    Even though adjustments could not be made for the body, since Asjad had always focused on exercising and gym, in addition to his height of 176cm, he had no complaints about his character''s physical appearance, so he selected ''Confirm''.


    [Character creation complete, please wait patiently for the connection to establish! While waiting, you may check your character''s ability guide to ensure a more thorough understanding of your role for a better gaming experience! Good gaming!]


    A character interface appeared in front of him. The character that he had just created was wearing a set of worn-out equipment and had an enormous sword strapped to his waist.


    Currently, he only had 3 pieces of equipment.


    [Worn-out Chest Plate] (Bronze, Armor)


    Defense: +2


    Level Requirement: 0


    [Worn-out Shin Guard] (Bronze, Armor)


    Defense : +1


    Level Requirement: 0


    [Beginner''s Giant Sword] (Bronze, One-handed Sword)


    Weapon Attack: 2-6


    Attack Interval: 2 seconds


    Level Requirement: 0


    Checking character''s ability guide, attack interval determined the frequency or rate of attacks. After performing a normal attack, the period before another attack could be initiated would be the Attack Interval. Dagger weapons would have the shortest interval time, followed by one-handed weapons and ranged weapons. The longest attack interval would be the two-handed weapon type.


    [Game starts in 3, 2, 1!]


    When Asjad opened his eyes once again, he was taken aback by the scene before him.


    Under the glow of a bright sun, a gust of wind blew on his face, making him feel as if he was in the real world and not in a VR game.


    Everything before his eyes was so realistic that Asjad had to pinch himself to make sure that he was not dreaming. Although he felt a slight pain from that, atleast he was almost convinced that this place was real.


    "How can this be, how can a standard 5TB VR game create such a realistic virtual world? At the start I thought, that the character selection was it and the rest of the game would be an empty nutshell. But such a scene is unimaginable!"


    Asjad was stunned by the whole setting before him. He bent down and scooped the soil, examining the soil particles. Unexpectedly, the graphics and feelings were so clear and detailed that it left him in a daze once more.


    "This is really cool! Finally, I have found the VR MMORPG of my dreams!!!"


    ***


    Meanwhile, thirty minutes ago.


    Ahan, in his Divine Kingdom, was deciding the final details of the game, such as the settings of the character class templates which were similar to that of the distribution of faith energy absorbed when the player kills a being from the other world.


    For instance, when the player has chosen a character class, say, a knight, the faith power collected when a being is killed will increase the abilities of a player, mostly by their strength with a bit of agility. A wizard would mostly increase their intelligence, while a rogue''s ability would be increased mostly by their agility and with a bit of strength.


    Suddenly, a message popped up in his mind.


    [Player Asjad Iqbal has registered into the battle server!]


    "Hahaha! Now this world will know of the greediest, most cunning, and horrible beings ¡ªPlayers." Ahan smirked while madly laughing out aloud.


    ***


    [New Quest: Slaughter ten wolves. The reward is 10 faith coins.]


    Asjad was excited when he received the quest.


    He was already becoming addicted to this well-made game.


    He followed the instructions, opened the map, and saw that he was currently in the [Eastern Islands] which was encircled by the field boundary of the [Himalaya Mountains]. However, the land further away was shrouded by a dense fog. Meanwhile, the top right corner showed Exploration in Eastern Islands 0.01% complete.


    Standing tall like a knight, he gripped his one-handed sword with a heroic spirit and headed to the outskirts.


    As he followed the map, he was also scouting his surroundings. He was still in awe of the game''s simulation, as the graphics were so fine and detailed that it felt almost impossible with the current technology of the world. It felt like a whole new world!


    As he explored further down the path, he encountered a ferocious wolf.


    Although he knew that it was merely a game that he was playing, Asjad still walked forward with wobbly legs to attack the wolf.


    The wolf pounced towards Asjad. His heart was hammering against his chest when he saw all of this, but after all, he was just a character in this game. With this thought comforting him, he gripped his sword tightly and threw himself at the wolf.


    "BAM!" He struck the wolf with his sword. At that moment, a ''-10'' in red appeared on top of the wolf''s head, showing the amount of damage inflicted. The place where the sword had landed was also replaced by a stab wound.


    Since there was no health bar available, Asjad had no idea how many more strikes he would need to successfully kill the wolf.


    When the wolf pounced on him again, he quickly moved sideways and tried to dodge most of the wolf''s attacks. But, when he was finally unable to dodge fast enough, a bloody value of ''-5'' emerged on his head due to the wolf''s bite.


    "Judging from this slight sensation of pain that I feel, the creator of this game must be an absolute genius!" Asjad exclaimed out loud.


    The fight continued. But, the wolf relying on his flexibility, kept pouncing on Asjad until he fell on the ground. Asjad quickly looked up and before he could pick himself up again to dodge, he saw the wolf pouncing on him again, it''s sharp claws tearing him apart.


    "Damn it! There is just no way I can solo it!" Asjad was in shock.


    Bloody numbers popped up one after the other on top of his head, then everything went pitch-black.


    [You have been killed by a wolf!]


    Ahan buried his face in his hands with shame when he saw his first player''s pathetic end.


    Asjad took off his virtual reality headset and slammed his fist on his bed.


    "That son of a bitch wolf dares to kill me, I have to go back and have my revenge!"


    Asjad who was mad with anger reached straight for the button and re-launched Eve of Gods.


    [You have died in the game, please wait for 2 hours to re-spawn.]


    [You are a Bronze Grade player. The cost of your re-spawn is 100 faith coins.]


    [NOTE: With every increase in Grade, the cost will multiply tenfold(10x).]


    Asjad took off his headset once more, his face now calm and devoid of emotions.


    ''I need a party to be able to efficient farm monsters in this VR MMORPG!''


    Though, there''s even a time-span for re-spawning, and the creator charges in-game currency for resurrection!


    The creator must be a highly principled and rich game developer with sufficient funds! He still hasn''t seen real poverty and is still lacking in the ways of the world to earn a fortune. However, Asjad had high hopes for this game because he was sure that all the netizens, gamers, scientists and businessmen would go absolutely mad at this sudden appearance of a VR game that appeared to be decades ahead of its time with its sentient AI NPCs and near perfect simulation almost similar to a reality.


    The technology behind this game which the small gaming company called ''Pantheon'' grasped had very wide ranging affects if it were to be shared with the public on Earth! He had a hunch that this game was going to go worldwide soon.


    A notification popped up on his virtual reality headset, reminding him that the update for PubG: VR Online was completed, but he no longer felt bothered by it. As a professional player, he had a sixth sense for gaming. At this moment, he decided to go all-in for this new game!


    As he was thinking about his bright future, the notification from his whatsapp group rang. It was from the members of his squad prompting him to go online, inviting him to EVO Grounds Challenge in PubG.


    Asjad smirked and wrote in the group chat: "I''ve found my dream game, so I''ve decided to quit playing PubG!(tears_of_joy.giphy)"


    Abduleria: "(ConfusedDog.giphy) Bro, wasn''t PubG: VR Online your dream game?"


    PandaBubble: "Don''t talk nonsense or I will kick you out from our squad.(BloodyPistol.giphy)"


    Asjad laughed at the lively group chat, he immediately shared the EvG game link with the group.


    "It''s called Eve of Gods, you won''t believe me until you play it yourself!"


    Seeing that Asjad had recommended the game himself, a few of them clicked on the link and after going through the game''s official website, the group chat became active once more.


    Sandy: "Verification done. Asjad-san has gone mad!"


    ChitwandeepKaur: "Are you ready to bet on this, you dumb idiot?"


    Asjad''s eyes grew larger in anger as he read the message sent by Chitwan.


    Then, he went ahead and hammered his fingers through the keyboard: "To all others except Chitwan, I need a team in the game to farm efficiently! Come over. Chitwan let''s bet 1000 UC on it."


    PandaBubble started screen recording.


    ChitwandeepKaur screenshotted the text. "Installing already! I''ll be back in ten, and will be waiting for my UC to come to Mama! You also owe me a chicken wrap from BK in Square One! (cute_cat_face.giphy)"


    Under Asjad''s persuasion, his whole squad started to get ready to play Eve of Gods!

 5 Rescue Ques

    Year 857 of God''s Calendar, Divine Kingdom


    Assimilating completely with the memories of the God Maugus, countless memories about common knowledge of the other world flooded into his mind. Ahan found out that those that had supernatural abilities in this world all had very clear stages and ranks.


    Bronze \u003c Silver \u003c Gold \u003c Supreme \u003c Legendary.


    For the mortals of this world, Legendary-ranked power was the peak pursuit of strength in the martial way.


    All the different churches of the other gods had at-least one Legendary Champion to prop it up.


    Legendary ranked power was enough to establish an Empire on the main continent while Supreme ranked power was enough to establish a Kingdom. Humans achieved evolution through the pain of war. They were a species that thrived on deadly battles. There were many powerhouses on the main continent, who had killed their way to such great power establishing their Empires, Kingdoms and legacies.


    But, in this world filled with various Gods, martial prowess could not completely correspond to reputation and social standing.


    You''re a scholar and want to advance through ranks in the royal court of your Kingdom?


    You can worship the Goddess of Learning, Saris.


    You''re a warrior and you want destructive power to kill all your enemies?


    You can worship the Destroyer God, Siva.


    You''re a merchant and want influence?


    You can worship the Goddess of Good Fortune and Wealth, Lakshmi.


    In the Creation Church which worshiped one of the Ultimate Gods Trinity -- Creator God Brom, there was a seemingly complete ranking system for paladins going from Bronze Knight -\u003e Revered Silver Knight -\u003e Honorable Gold Knight -\u003e Glorious Supreme Knight -\u003e Legendary Knight(also called Saints).


    However, a vast majority of people in this world who achieved Silver level power were aristocrats, wealthy merchants and civil officials who had bought their way up to that position by sacrificing a portion of their fortunes to the churches and clergy of their respective Gods.


    The same could be said for most of the Gold level powerhouses -- many of them had achieved that power without being qualified for it. Speaking purely in terms of ability, these people could not even hold a candle to a warrior who had earned their power through military or other merits.


    The only ones which still held some degree of real authority and power were the Supreme and Legendary -- as that level of power could only be cultivated through untold hardships or appointed by a God.


    So in other words, the polarization between the rich and the poor was pretty deeply rooted in the society of this world, as however devout a peasant could be, most of their time would ultimately be consumed by the toil of their everyday life -- to the point where a year''s worth of prayer might not even amount to an aristocrat''s daily offering of money to the clergy.


    Though in this world full of Gods, there would still be a few lucky ones who could grab the attention of a God at birth and become Chosen Ones or Saintesses that would be sought after and revered. No matter how hardworking a person was, they would have no chance of climbing up the social ladder without the attention of a God.


    Maybe as a native of this world, God Maugus would not have noticed such an opportunity in the past. However, this granted Ahan an opportunity to take advantage of this situation now. The commoners who were exploited and looked down upon by the churches would be the ones that would become the basis for his church to grow exponentially once again in this world!


    While Ahan continued to contemplate on his future strategies, a number of messages kept popping up in his mind continuously.


    [Player PandaBubble has registered into the battle server!]


    [Player ChitwandeepKaur has registered into the battle server!]


    From the messages, there were five or more players in total that had registered into the battle server.


    ________


    With Asjad''s persuasion, all of his teammates waited for his re-spawn time to end while they downloaded the game, put on their headsets and chose the Eve of Gods game icon. Chitwan was fully prepared to prove Asjad wrong and win her free UC and Burger+Chicken Wrap.


    What came after was them experiencing the same shock as Asjad when he first entered Maugus World.


    The realistic graphics and near perfect simulation had left them astounded.


    After choosing the character classes that they favored, all of them received the same quest that Asjad failed at!


    Abduleria and Sandy, like Asjad, chose to be Knights, while PandaBubble went with Rogue and Chitwan selected Wizard.


    A series of exclamations followed as Asjad smirked at his squad who marveled at the worn-out equipment on their bodies and the scenery that surrounded them, leaving them with absolutely no words.


    "Oye Chitwan, why don''t you log out now? I will send you your 1000 UC as this game was definitely a sham!" Asjad smirked.


    "Shut up, you idiot. Damn! this game is really so cool. Which company came up with such a big move? The Indian gaming industry should be prepared to be swept away by this! But I feel that my 1000 UC are getting further away from me!" Chitwan despaired.


    "Come on, you two fools over there or we will leave you behind! We have a quest to do." PandaBubble hollered.


    After their lively discussion, they hurriedly prepared to explore the game. With Asjad leading the way this time with his prior experience of death, they were more careful and killed one ferocious wolf after another in the mountains.


    In the party chat,


    AsjadIqbal: "Dear brothers and dumb Chitwan, let me have this one. I''ve already killed nine of them, let me finish my quest and help increase our party''s strength."


    Abduleria: "Get lost, I only have five in my hand. Do you even know how to play by the rules? I demand fairness!"


    ChitwandeepKaur: "I don''t care about the last kill you guys can take it but can I have the drops, pretty please? #FortifiedByRupees"


    All of the others in the squad didn''t even look at her way! They were not so easily tempted by the words of a beautiful face. The party started quarreling over the wolf while PandaBubble and Sandy also joined in.


    But in the end, it was Asjad, the first player and strongest of the party, who got the last attack on the wolf. A white light suddenly emerged from the dead ferocious wolf and made its way into his body. His experience bar once again became empty.


    [Congratulations! Player has leveled up, gained 2 strength and 1 agility.]


    [Congratulations! Player has completed the quest, gained 10 faith coins.]


    According to the core algorithm set by Ahan, whenever a player killed a creature, the faith power from the sacrifice would be separated into two portions. 80% of it would be sent to his Divine Kindom as his private income and 20% of it would be added to the player''s experience.


    "Woah! What is this sensation? I feel like I am getting stronger." Asjad was staring at his body in awe, as if he was having a hard time accepting it.


    "What are you getting so shocked for? Isn''t it normal for a player to be stronger after leveling up?" Chitwan rolled her eyes.


    "This game''s developers are really scary geniuses. When you level up in other VR games, only your attributes are increased, but you won''t feel any changes in your body. Instead, you''ll only find that the damages you inflict on your enemies will have increased. But, when you level up in this game, you can feel the sensation of your body growing stronger and faster, this is incredible! I feel like I can reach Shaktiman level power inside the game! Muahaha." Asjad said excitedly.


    "Impossible, bullshit. Are you saying that we can experience having actual superpowers in this game like in anime?" said Sandy.


    "I feel that it''s really possible. The power that is impossible to be possessed in reality can be experienced in a VR game. This is absolutely incredible." Asjad nodded.


    "We''ll discus this after I level up, as the next person that''s going to level up is going to be me." Abdul smirked.


    "Screw off!" The rest of them hollered in unison.


    In about ten hours, the players had killed a massive number of Ferocious Wolves. All of them had completed their initial quest, and continued to hunt for more Wolves in the mountains, continuously leveling up. They even encountered a massively huge but docile creature which looked like the mixture of an elephant and rhinoceros called Mastoraj by the system whom they killed for fun. But, it gave them massive amounts of experience points. So they searched for Mastoraj everywhere in the mountains, and farmed the creature again and again.


    All of them were now between level seven and eight, when they suddenly got a group quest!


    [Hidden conditions met! Initiating side quest!]


    [Rescue Quest: Save the Saintess!]


    [God Maugus'' Saintess is battling the Bronze ranked warriors and rogues sent to finish her at The Last Church.


    Follow the map, and save her. The reward is 50 faith coins to each player and one Silver grade equipment!]

 6 Nandini

    Year 857 of God''s Calendar, Himalaya Mountain outskirts


    It was an overgrown forest full of tall ancient trees and dense vegetation filled with a gloomy evil atmosphere. Usually, not a single soul could be seen here as the whole Himalaya Mountains and its surroundings were the territory of the Rakshasa tribe.


    In this world, Rakshasas were believed to have been created from the breath of Creator God Brom when he was in a slumber. As soon as they were created, they were so filled with blood-lust that they started eating Brom himself.


    "Rakshama!" (Sanskrit for "Protect me!")


    Brom shouted and God Maugus came to his aid, banishing to the Mortal World all Rakshasas. He made sure that all these evil creatures were cornered to a small portion of the Eastern Islands. A Church in his name was constructed, where his warriors set base to forever guard against Rakshasa tribe and keep them banished there.


    Rakshasas were ugly, fierce-looking enormous creatures, with two fangs protruding from the top of the mouth and having sharp, claw-like fingernails. They were evil beasts and insatiable man-eaters that could smell the scent of human flesh. Some of the most ferocious powerful ones of their tribe had flaming red eyes and hair, habitually drinking blood with their palms or from a human skull.


    They could fly, vanish, and had Maya (magical powers of illusion), which enabled them to change size at will and assume the form of any creature. The female equivalent of Rakshasa is Rakshasi. They were the mortal enemies of all the humans of the Eastern Islands, and they battled each other often.


    In this Rakshasa Forest, tree crowns filled the forest canopy and blocked out the sky, leaving the forest in dimness-- if it was not for the occasional ray of sunshine piercing through the canopy to project faint strips of radiance within the forest, one would have trouble differentiating whether they were in hell or not.


    A young woman who was dressed in combat gear was running through a narrow path between the tall ancient trees of this forest.


    Her black ponytail danced as she moved. Suddenly, the woman tripped over a tree root and fell. She got up panting heavily, sweating buckets from all the running and leaned on a tree with a face full of grief.


    "It is all because God Maugus has now left us." She sighed.


    After the Great War between the Ultimate Gods Trinity, even if the survivors of God Maugus''s church maintained their traditional belief in the God of Harmony and Order, almost everyone was aware that the God has left them.


    It made sense if she thought about it: the great empire of Kalwars which had been at the height of its power and ruled the entire Eastern Islands was invaded and driven to its knees by the alliance of Gupta and Maratha Empires, and yet, the God that the whole Kalwar Empire believed in and fought for, had never once displayed even the slightest of providence.


    With just her left now, even if she was a Saintess of God Maugus, it was certainly impossible for her to gain any divine compassion.


    Nonetheless, Nandini who had long since gotten used to these cruel blows shook her head, throwing aside doubt towards her God.


    "More importantly, how was it that I was poisoned!?" She wondered out aloud.


    "I can answer that, Saintess Nandini."


    A sharp voice with unrepressed hostility suddenly spoke, setting Nandini on alert at once. Soon, however, her alertness turned into profound despair, for many figures dressed in light leather armor with patterns of other Gods appeared from the dense forest.


    She too was familiar with them-- they were the warriors and rogues who had pursued her for the past three days!


    At the moment, she was completely surrounded by the believers of other Gods.


    One Bronze Knight slowly stepped out from their formation, who was probably their leader.


    "The village maids that were hired by your church to clean and cook food betrayed you, Saintess." the knight said proudly.


    "I''m very sorry, Saintess." Maria, her maid said dryly, stepping out of the formation, before pointing her sword at Nandini.


    "How could this be!?" Nandini was still in disbelief.


    "You know very well that my husband died in the The Great War of Gods. I could never forget about it, and in every moment of the last few years, my heart burns with vengeance! I sold my soul to a god who can help me claim revenge." Maria remained as stoic as ever and showed no apologetic expression whatsoever.


    "You will face divine retribution for turning against our God." Nandini said, slightly trembling as she tried to maintain her courage.


    "Maybe. Like you, I once held immeasurable faith in that God of Harmony and Order, but he never answered my prayers. He has already left us, Saintess." Maria said coldly.


    "That is why now, in this very moment, he would not help you either, Your Grace."


    Nandini bit her lip and sheathed her sword. Even though she was poisoned and in no state to fight. She did not have any intention to simply give up! She kept her sword leveled at Maria, the maid whom she once trusted the most.


    But even before she could react, Maria had already bounded forward, easily sending Nandini''s sword flying out of her hands.


    Stumbling two steps backward, Nandini almost fell over.


    "It''s over!" The knight laughed cruelly, totally uninterested in the elegantly decorated sword that dropped right before him.


    That was when a blinding radiance suddenly shone out of nowhere, instantly taking away everyone''s vision!


    Meanwhile, Nandini was the first to react after being covered in that light. She found herself within a space of pure whiteness.


    "God Maugus!?" She appeared excited but doubtful as all she could make out was a nearby blurry form of part lion and part human.


    "That''s right." a voice that seemed very familiar to her spoke.


    Nandini felt a myriad of emotions when she heard those two simple words from the god she believed in and immediately knelt down.


    "I bow down to the Lord who resides in the hearts of all beings."


    "I should begin with apologies. I was in slumber since my defeat and could not answer your prayers." God Maugus continued with his enigmatic and mysterious voice. "That being said, your prayers all this time had not gone to waste-- for I have risen from my slumber!"


    He waved his hand, and a bright light covered Nandini, dispersing the poison inflicted on her and recovering her strength to the Silver level, and even upgrading it to a Gold level warrior.


    At the same time, Nandini had a feeling as if she was an orphan who had finally been adopted by a family and found a place where she truly belonged. She had finally found her spiritual pillar and she could face anything head on without fear from now onwards!


    It was so warm that she broke down in tears!

 7 NPC!?

    [Congratulations, NPC! You have been officially recognized as the only Saintess of God Maugus in this world.]


    [Activating NPC Saintess System.]


    ''What?! The ONLY Saintess!!''


    As Nandini blanked out from surprise and blushed with both her cheeks red, a limpid transient screen appeared in front of her.


    [I bow down to the Lord who resides in the hearts of all beings.]


    Before Nandini could even start praying or show her devoutness, the words on the screen vanished. Along with a cool and clear-cut startup screen, the main U.I of the system appeared.


    [ NPC(Non-Player Character): Nandini ]


    [ Class: Saintess ]


    [ Level: 60 (Gold) ]


    [ Population: 0/0 ]


    [ Players: 0 ]


    [ Devoutness: 10/100 ]


    Nandini looked quickly through the words written on the screen, finally laying her eyes on the value of Devoutness. As she focused on it, a corresponding pop-up screen appeared next to it.


    [ Value- Devoutness: 10/100 ]


    [ Description: It is the measure of a believer''s faith in God Maugus! ]


    [ Disclaimer: 10 is the maximum value a believer can reach through sheer faith. To show your dedication to the God Maugus and increase its value: Recruit more players, manage a city in his name and build armies to spread his glory once again! ]


    Nandini felt like she was experiencing the weirdest situation she had ever faced in her whole life.


    ''Wha-what is this!?''


    "It is a System, a generous blessing from me. You can understand it as me communicating with you through it whenever I want to."


    God Maugus then answered Nandini in his enigmatic and mysterious voice while he continued. "Any quest you get through the system is like a Divine Prophecy from me. Players are my avatars who I have succeeded in giving a soul. They would be a little weird, but every single one of my Players has a Legendary powerhouse level potential. They are my best warriors. Recruit as many as you can, build a City around The Last Church and we will rebuild the Kalwar Empire from the blood of all my enemies! Now, go back and kill all of our enemies."


    ______


    Asjad accepted the mission happily. After all, playing around with so many MMORPG VR games in his life, if there was one thing that he had learnt was that completing quests was always more rewarding than hunting for monsters unless it was boss monster.


    After his party had ascertained the contents of the mission, they quickly sneaked towards the location marked on the map.


    Soon, they reached the place, hiding behind a tall ancient tree of the Rakshasa Forest to peek at the situation.


    The battle was occurring in a narrow but spacious enough clearing in the dense forest. There were many tall and buff warriors dressed in light leather armor with patterns assembled in a formation at the lead of a Bronze Knight as recognized by system information.


    [ Name: ??? ]


    [ Class: Knight ]


    [ Level: 20 (Bronze) ]


    [ Attributes: ??? ]


    On the other hand, at the center, two very beautiful woman were fighting and the target they had to rescue was on the losing end!


    "What should we do? Should we help?" Chitwan very quietly asked Asjad, gulping.


    Asjad said nothing, just observing the battle. He was licking his lips again and again though; he looked rather eager.


    Both Sandy and PandaBubble appeared doubtful like Chitwan. But, Abduleria was filled with blood-lust as well to level up!


    Just as they were hesitating to attack, a blinding radiance suddenly shone out of nowhere, instantly taking away everyone''s vision.


    "Even the GM is helping us!! If you guys are afraid, let me divert their attention." Abduleria said eagerly. "I think I could take five of them!"


    "They are like ten levels above you." Chitwan shot back.


    "We might face a party wipe, Abdul." Asjad smirked.


    "Don''t forget the re-spawn time, peeps." Sandy added.


    "Also, the cost of 100 faiths coins!" PandyBubble added right after Sandy.


    "Let us do this, squad." Abdul grinned.


    Chitwan turned towards Asjad with a look that said pretty-please-help-me-out.


    Asjad nodded in understanding, and then proceeded to scream ''ALLAH HU AKBAR!!!'' as he dashed out from behind the tall ancient tree and bounded towards the assassins with his Beginner''s Giant Sword raised above his head.


    Everyone in the fight -- Saintess or assassins -- turned at once towards him.


    "That idiot!" Chitwan picked up her Wizard Wand and gave chase, unsure if she should laugh or cry. She buffed all of them with her spell; Berserk, which would double all of their base attributes for the next five minutes!


    Both Sandy and PandaBubble ambushed their enemies to kill one by one with great teamwork.


    Meanwhile, although Abdul was slow to react and did not look the part of a Knight at all, he used his huge frame of 2 metres fully. Each swing of his Beginner''s Giant Sword would send a warrior or a rogue into the air. In fact, whether that particular warrior was charging at him or a rogue sneaking up on him, it made no difference as all of them would be blown away by Abdul in his Berserk mode!


    Although the five players were surprisingly formidable, none of them could match Saintess Nandini who had advanced to the Gold level.


    She killed both Maria and that peak Bronze Knight in one hit! Any assassin who approached her was killed immediately.


    "Are you players?" She asked Chitwan with folded hands as she observed the battle.


    "Yes, Saintess." Chitwan replied after launching a Fireball at two warriors who were fighting Asjad to a standstill.


    Nandini observed these five players with narrowed eyes.


    Unusually, the combo of Sandy and PandaBubble even with Berserk buff which would dull your senses in fury, would intelligently ambush their targets and immediately stab them in the vitals to kill with surprising teamwork.


    While the huge player Abdul, was even more unusual -- after sending each enemy flying, he would shout "EXP!".


    The Knight who looked like the player''s leader was even more superior, although his might was devastating, something was amiss.


    ''Oh, right! The Wizard!'' The Wizard supporting all the players from behind was weird.


    Being a Saintess, she had seen and met even Arch Wizards of The Capital of Kalwar Empire and had seen them use their spells up close. However, all of them had to chant or prepare blood before they could unleash their spells. Even if she was only essentially switching between two spells: Fireballs and Berserk! She did not even have to prepare before casting her spells directly.


    The Wizard just murmured ''Fireball'' or ''Berserk'' to unleash her spells.


    ''Did Instant cast become so common that even lowly Bronze level Wizards could do it!?''


    ''Truly formidable but weird, but just like God Maugus said; they have great potential.'' Nandini got even more sure of her impression of players when she saw the huge knight Abduleria dancing at the corpse of the last warrior of the assassin group, shouting "Finally Leveled up peeps!!" on the top of his voice!


    These players were very formidable but too weird!


    Just like that, a standard stereotype against Players would be formed in the NPC''s minds in the future with the influence of the Saintess!

 8 Anneliese I

    Year 857 of God''s Calendar, The Last Church


    It was the fifth day since Asjad Iqbal''s party ''rescued'' Saintess Nandini. Their re-spawn point had already changed to The Last Church.


    For the past five days, from The Last Church as the beginning point, Asjad''s party had explored The Rakshasa Forest to the Himalaya Mountains. They were now veteran beta-players of EvG who had encountered and fought with ferocious enemies such as the Rakshasa Tribe fiends, monstrous creatures like Gajodhar, cunning monsters like Tendua and so on. The whole party averaged around level 13.


    After coming into contact with NPC Saintess Nandini, they had joined her system faction. To them, Saintess Nandini was like the chief of the beginner''s village in other games. She had enlightened the players on some basic knowledge regarding the Maugus World.


    For instance, the entire Eastern Islands was unified by The Kalwar Empire who worshiped God Maugus as the official God of their Empire! The whole Island had been under their rule for the past hundreds of years before the War of the Ultimate Gods Trinity.


    After the war, it had been divided into six factions. All the six Great Cities of The Kalwar Empire had their own City Lord who had sworn allegiance to either The Gupta Empire or The Maratha Empire as their vassal noble and ruled under them. All of the six factions had their own area of influence with clear borders. They had a number of towns and villages under them.


    The nearest City Lord to the players was Supreme Shantanu of the Great City Sander which flied the Banner of Protector. These Banners were magical artifacts crafted by God of Harmony and Order, Maugus to buff the large legions of The Kalwar Empire. The Banner of Protector doubled the base defense of all soldiers of the Sander Legion, making them very hard to kill on the battlefield.


    City Lord Shantanu was a Glorious Supreme Knight of the Creation Church. He also had a standing army of 100,000 soldiers. All elites of the Sander Legion were well trained and battled hardened veterans. The Marshal of the Sander legion was a half-step Supreme Warrior. He had ten Gold level Generals under him leading ten thousand soldiers as a unit called Corps. Each General had ten Silver level Commanders leading 1000 soldiers as a unit called Battalions. Each commander had ten peak Bronze level Lieutenants leading 100 soldiers as a unit called Company. Lord Shantanu was the greatest threat to the players after EvG''s official launch!


    Other than that, Saintess Nandini told them that once they reach Level 15, they can pay 1000 faith coins to her if they wished to form a guild. Unusually, Asjad and his squad had realized that the NPC Saintess seemed to have her own independent consciousness. Other than the necessary settings of a Village Chief NPC, she also seemed to have her own hobbies and thoughts.


    Chitwan had realized that if the players sincerely role-played as a zealot believer of God Maugus, they would have high favorability with the Saintess. Such an advanced AI, created many uncertainties and increased the playability of the game.


    Asjad, Chitwan and squad were once again in awe of the game developers!


    During this time, the number of players in EvG had also increased to 97. Many of them played the game because of AsjadIqbal, ChitwandeepKaur, and the squad''s recommendation.


    Basically, everyone who had not tried the game, was highly dubious of it in the start. However, once they had played it, only then they would realize how realistic and playable the game truly was. Nobody could bear to stop playing the game once they had the experience.


    Asjad and his party gathered outside the Rakshasa Forest discussing their future plans for the game.


    "Do you guys regret making the decision of disbanding our Guild in PubG: VR Online? After all, we were in the top hundred on the server!" Asjad Iqbal, as the Guild leader asked while he looked at all of them one by one.


    "Come on, we''ve been gaming together for so many years. We are all sensitive to the changes in the trends of the gaming market. All of us feel that EvG has a huge potential, and that''s why we all quit firmly without turning back. I don''t think there''s any need to regret that. Moreover, as the first batch of beta players, we have a significant advantage. Would we still need to worry about us earning money in the future?" Abduleria answered.


    "That''s right! Though, I don''t understand why there is no top-up option in the game! What about my pay-to-win gaming style!?" Chitwan said what was on everyone''s mind. Though, not only Chitwan, in fact, everyone who was present had thought of topping-up cash to purchase silver or gold grade equipment.


    Who would have thought that the game wouldn''t even have a top-up option! They were absolutely speechless.


    They wondered, that as anyhow, the game developed and finally launched officially, the small and new gaming company ''Pantheon'' would also want to make money. It was only a matter of time until the top-up was made available. Moreover, faith coins in the game were extremely rare, so they totally could hoard the coins for sale. Making money was not something to be worried about.


    "Then, is everyone thinking of creating the First Guild in EvG, like me?" a smile appeared on Asjad''s face.


    "Hell yeah! We are gonna be the best Guild in the game!" Abdul replied excitedly.


    "Though, I''ve searched many VR streaming platforms and even VRtube without coming across a single advertisement of this game at all. What is Pantheon even thinking? Do they not even have the money to advertise?" PandaBubble wondered out aloud.


    "Exactly. If Asjad hadn''t accidentally found the game through his crawler and played. We would never have believed such an amazing game would be made by a small new gaming company." Sandy immediately shot back.


    Genius people truly have a different way of thinking.


    The small gaming company called ''Pantheon'' was truly an amusing anomaly!

 9 Anneliese II

    Saintess Nandini was trying her best to evangelize about the return of God Maugus. It was as if she were promoting Tupperware in various villages and towns. She came across a village which appeared so dilapidated and run down that she would have thought it was an abandoned one had she passed by during the Era of Kalwar Empire''s peak prosperity.


    But she realized that the situation was now completely different. The current six Overlords of the Eastern Islands were not all citizen loving rulers like the Emperor of Kalwar in the past. She had been just an ordinary village girl before she caught the attention of God Maugus as his Saintess.


    God Maugus had given her the power to improve the lives of exploited common people. During the period of Preserver Church''s peak power, she had enough power to even dismiss hereditary dukes and earls if she ever found incidents of exploitation of common people in cities and villages. She had often went in disguise to make inspections of the lives of the common people. The nobles had even privately nicknamed her as "The Black Nun". Every noble in the Kalwar Empire had dreaded her visit to their fief.


    She had risen from the lowest rungs of the society and had never forgotten her roots. Apart from her unmatched devotion to God Maugus, she had an unimaginable affection and sense of belonging towards the ordinary people. She had always worked for their sake. To improve the lives of the common people of The Eastern Islands was her life long pursuit.


    "Lady, what is your business here?"


    Nandini turned towards the voice to find a battle-hardened, middle-aged man standing several feet away from her. His face was so skinny that he appeared no different than a skeleton. However, his eyes were so sharp that even Nandini felt uncomfortable under his stare. She was a Gold level warrior and to make her feel so, with just a stare, the middle-aged man must be at-least a veteran soldier of Silver level.


    "My name is Maria! I am a nun from the Creation Church." Nandini declared, drawing out a fake-decree she had already used many times in her journey to learn of the true state of affairs in towns and villages. "I am here to collect the tribute tax for the Gupta Empire!"


    When City Lord Shantanu had bent his knee to The Gupta Empire, he also forfeited his right to collect taxes in his fief to the Creation Church. To show their loyalty to The Gupta Empire, the church collected taxes in the fief, out of which, fifty percent would be sent back to The Gupta Empire as tribute every month while the other fifty percent would be given to Lord Shantanu.


    The middle-aged man gave Nandini a long, hard look and shook his head in frustration. "As you could see for yourself, these lands are incomparably barren. The support we used to receive from the Kalwar Empire has long been terminated and our mining rights in the Himalaya Mountains were taken by you people! Everyone living here in this village are so poor that they can not afford to eat! In fact, they are biting off tree barks to satiate their hunger-- you are not going to earn even a copper of tax here. Lord Shantanu has bent his knee to you foreigners, not us indigenous people of Eastern Islands. In the name of God Maugus, I won''t pay you invaders a single copper even if it means death. Our whole village will fight to the last man. Leave, nun! You are not welcome here."


    Nandini knew that the middle-aged man was trying to warn her. She had heard that coming alone to take taxes in the fief was considerably dangerous for the clergy of The Creation Church. This was due to the backlash from the common people. They would make it look like as if the clergy member had an accident on their way, which was why most clergy from the Creation Church preferred to bring along an escort of Knights when they went to collect taxes in the fief.


    "Are we, from the Creation Church, this hated!? We don''t oppress you, it''s your own Lord Shantanu who has ordered everything." she said, persuasively calming the other. "Why do you hate us so much?"


    "You''ve misunderstood me, Lady." the middle-aged man replied, shaking his head again. "I am a proud soldier of the true Sander Legion. You Creation Church wretches, go around the whole territory hunting for us! Making us slaves! Do you think you will actually leave here alive?" He smirked.


    "WHAT? The Creation Church knights made our Sander Legion soldiers slaves!?" Nandini asked in anger, her Gold level aura leaking out.


    "Yes, Lady." The middle-aged man said quickly, blinking his eyes in surprise at her aura. "Who are you really, Lady? You are not from The Creation Church, are you? Otherwise, with your Gold level strength, I would have died at your hand right at the start, to be made an example for the rest of the village."


    Nandini controlled her anger and she kindly said. "God Maugus survived! He has awoken from his slumber by my continued prayers. I am Saintess Nandini. I have come to recruit people to construct a city in his name near the Rakshasa Forest and rebuild his army!"


    "I bow down to the Lord who resides in the hearts of all beings." The middle-aged man immediately knelt down and prayed out aloud in excitement. He looked up to Nandini and continued. "I have fought alongside you in the final battle, Saintess, but I was never fortunate enough to see your face up-close! This Manjesh pays his respect to the Divine Saintess. I speak for the whole village when I say that we are willing to follow you anywhere! There is no life left for us here anyway. I would rather die fighting for God Maugus in glory than starve to death here!"


    [Congratulations! You have earned the recognition of all the villagers.]


    [God Maugus is looking at you from his Divine Kingdom. He has blessed you with a variety of building blueprints for which you only have to collect the required material and resources, and his faith energy will help you build them until the construction of the city is complete.]


    [Please choose a name for your City.]


    ''Anneliese'' She thought in her mind and said. "Rejoice Manjesh! For we have been blessed by God Maugus. Come let us gather all the villagers and travel back to The Last Church."


    While she traveled with Manjesh to the center of the village, Nandini learned that he was the village chief, and that it was the years of oppression from The Creation Church as well as the war between the Ultimate Gods Trinity, wherein most young men from the village died, reducing the small but relatively thriving village into its present state.


    There were quite a number of houses, but most of them were left rundown following years of zero maintenance and vacancy. The roof tiles were falling off from time to time with foxes or rats scrambling from the weeds growing underneath.


    In fact, there were only three hundred twenty-one villagers left, including Manjesh, and they were mostly elderly, women, or children. When the village was still thriving they used to have at-least a couple thousand villagers!


    Nandini and Manjesh gathered all the villagers and started their journey back to The Last Church. With renewed hope and belief, Nandini once again strengthened her resolve to kill all the enemies of God Maugus and rebuild the Kalwar Empire from their blood.


    For God Maugus and the common people!

 10 Anneliese III

    Ahan had finally accumulated enough faith power to stabilize and merge with his Divinity and Godhood through the merciless farming of monsters in The Himalaya Mountains and Rakshasa Forest by the players. Though, stabilizing and merging with his divinity and ascending to Godhood once again was not as simple a process as filling up the EXP bar and leveling up.


    His Divine Kingdom currently was just a semi-plane. His Godhood, which contained his domain and laws had not merged with him. All of this needed the help of his believers in the Mortal World.


    Therefore, at the moment, a point of caution was to not expose the City-in-construction, Anneleise, as a base for his believers and bring on their own destruction. The other was to ensure that the Players did not provoke the Rakshasa Tribe without restraint.


    It was not that Ahan had been reluctant to let the Players purge that wretched tribe -- in fact, he hoped more than anyone else that Players would easily clear the entire Rakshasa Forest of those evil demons. But in the Mortal World, an adult man would have the capabilities of a Level 5 Bronze Player. If he had received training and had served the army, he would at-least match a Level 15 Bronze Player. An elite soldier or an officer would be Silver tier. Gold tier was what separated the strong and the weak.


    The Rakshasa Tribe had plenty of Supreme level Elders as well as a Legendary Tribe Leader and countless Gold, Silver and peak Bronze grade minions. They were a Behemoth Empire level power restrained inside the Rakshasa Forest by the power of the armies he had stationed there in the past and the power of his clones.


    The gods condensed clones to use them instead of their true bodies to walk in the secular world.


    Feeble divine force rank Gods or simply Lesser Gods could condense one clone, Weak divine force rank Gods could condense two clones, Intermediate divine force rank Gods could condense three clones, Strong divine force rank Gods could condense four clones, and his previous level which was Overlord rank Gods could condense five clones. There were both strong and weak clones, and divinity or even godhood could be placed in them.


    That is why, though the beta-players were now high on morale, truth be told, Ahan could imagine the players who were still in their early levels being wiped out entirely and instantly even if they stepped anywhere near the outskirts of the Rakshasa village by mistake.


    Also, if the Rakshasa Tribe was provoked and started a war, they would realize that he had been defeated and there wasn''t his clone with an elite army waiting right outside the forest to guard it! They would wreak havoc in the entire Eastern Islands. If that happened, the players would be killed again and again and even if they could be revived, soon they would run out of faith coins and reach the limit he had set for the players to re-spawn, which was negative 500 faith coins!


    This would affect all of Ahan''s future plans. As he was completely sure that the Players would select adventuring out and not help the starter City construction efforts -- when playing a VR game, compared to spending a dull seven to eight hours mining for resources and building walls, wouldn''t a thrilling adventure with the potential of gaining Silver dropped weapons seem so much more appealing?


    Moreover, seeking death was in itself engraved deeply into the DNA of players! That was why he kicked out all the players from the game and introduced the first Beta Version Update.


    ***


    Meanwhile, thirty minutes later.


    When all the beta players logged in once again, all of them simultaneously received a message from the game. In contrast to the other Players who were left baffled, Asjad, who was the first player of the game once again smelled opportunity.


    [Beta Version Update 1.0]


    [Currency System fully unlocked: Players can now obtain faith coins through clearing city construction quests and killing monsters. Faith coins can be used to purchase items and equipment from the unlocked Shop in the System.]


    [Reputation System unlocked: Only the Anneleise City presently allows the gaining of reputation points through the completion of commissioned quests. Commissioned quests can be accepted from Saintess Nandini.]


    [Main Mission: Complete the construction of the Starter City as soon as possible for the official launch of the game! Contribution in city construction will secure corresponding limited edition titles and rewards.]


    The actual message was not very long, and Asjad finished reading through it soon enough.


    The other players were done as well, and now the future starter city was bursting with lively discussion.


    "Finally I can farm reputation with all these NPCs!"


    "All the Gajodhars are walking money bags. Time to farm money for the official launch has come!"


    "Move aside buggers. I need to take on the commission to carry bricks for the wall!"


    "Finally GM is listening to us?"


    "Shop! Silver grade equipment? Hell yeah!"


    "We get to construct the starter city ourselves?! Beta version is awesome!! Respect++"


    ***


    Meanwhile, at The Last Church


    Saintess Nandini was browsing through all the building blueprints given to her by God Maugus.


    There were multistorey stone houses and cheaper multistorey wooden houses. Aside from that, there were also log workshops, mines, shipyards, warehouses, shops, and other buildings, along with some blueprints that left Nandini rather baffled.


    Some of those included Hot-springs bath houses. It appeared that the effect of the particular building was ''ease fatigue to a certain extent''.


    "I guess it''ll have to be the main temple first!" Nandini muttered to herself.


    Still, like the other Players, Nandini had also received Ahan''s notifications about the beta version update.


    It was just that for her, apart from more building blueprints being unlocked, there was now a new page called the Contribution list.


    Now, Nandini would be able to assign commissioned quests such as construction quests, resource quests and farming quests to the Players. While Players would accomplish the quests and receive EXP and faith coins, Nandini would be able to see their different contribution values.


    When Players completed their commissioned quests, which were all related to building the starter City Anneliese, they would be able to enter the top 10 leader-board which will be visible to all the beta-players if their contribution value rises above one hundred.


    This first player event had begun!

 11 Anneliese IV

    Year 857 of God''s Calendar, The Last Church


    During the beta version game update, Nandini had unlocked a building which she could start building immediately with the help of a hundred believers simultaneously praying -- the Temple, a building that could be constructed purely with faith energy.


    Gods had churches in all the cities and towns of their believers but every God could only build one temple every fifty years. A temple is a place where Divinity Altars are constructed and God''s clones reside. A Divinity Altar is a structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices could be made by the believers of the Mortal World to their Gods.


    After she returned to The Last Church with Manjesh and the villagers, Saintess Nandini immediately demarcated the area for a port to be built on the sea coast, which comprised of a single large wharf with multiple berths where ships may be docked to load and unload cargo.


    She planned to build a port city called Anneliese in an area of about 100 square miles with at least twelve metre tall outer steel walls for its defense and six metre tall steel walls for the inner circle of the port city. She planned to build the God Maugus'' Temple in the center; it would be the heart of the city.


    Saintess Nandini thanked the dead, old Bishop of the Preserver Church, who had strictly forbidden all nobles to build a city on the southeastern part of the Island. This was because the Rakshasa Forest was home to the Rakshasa Tribe and he did not want the stupid and arrogant nobles to escalate conflicts with them and cause more trouble for the Preserver Church. Due to this policy, she now had the opportunity to construct a City without alarming any major powers of The Eastern Islands.


    ***


    Time slowly passed. Ten days later...


    Saintess Nandini had succeeded in recruiting a thousand ex-Sander legion soldiers who were in hiding with the help of Manjesh. She was also successful in contacting almost all of the towns and villages in Lord Shantanu''s fief without him even being aware of it.


    She received workmen, experts, smiths, shipbuilders and ordinary citizens in batches from these towns and villages. In the past ten days, she had received one batch after another until the total number of people working to build the port City of Anneliese, amounted to at least a hundred thousand. She had put nine thousand young men under the command of a thousand Sander elites. With Manjesh leading this army, they would be re-named Anneliese Legion and be in-charge of the defense of the port city!


    With Saintess Nandini''s order, the accumulation of resources never stopped. She gave all the players resource accumulation and mining quests. She had the smiths and experts construct at least a thousand furnaces all around the port city.


    She was standing in the heart of the city with both arms folded together across her bountiful chest when she ordered Manjesh.


    "Begin!"


    Under her orders, the flames of one furnace shot out from one corner of the city, quickly followed by the second, third, fourth????? thousands of furnaces blazed to life, spreading from one corner to every part of the city. They continuously produced steel blocks for the construction of the city walls.


    So fierce were the flames that the area in and around the Great City Anneliese got heated up like an active volcano.


    The ninety thousand workmen and the ten thousand soldiers responsible for defense put down their duties and began to help with the construction of the walls. A mountain of steel blocks for the outer and inner walls had been gathered with more steel blocks continuously being produced.


    The foundation for the outer and inner city walls had been completed a couple days ago and was left untouched. The majority of the workmen being tasked with constructing the restaurants, inns, and multistorey houses inside the city. Now, however, as if everything had already been planned out, the workmen began to move these blocks to their designated positions for the construction of the walls.


    A white blinding light spread out from the City of Anneliese and could even be seen from the Rakshasa Village!


    Boom! Boom! Boom!


    The banging of steel blocks as it joined magically with faith energy shook the heavens. The one hundred thousand workmen and soldiers, along with the beta-players worked as a cohesive unit. They worked together like a smooth and precise machine. As they constructed the city with a flabbergasting speed, they moved the required materials to their designated areas while praying!


    This vast and magnificent magical construction process and the formidable ability to plan and manage these proceedings left Asjad, Chitwan and the other beta players with their mouths agape. They were in awe of the NPC Saintess.


    "Impossible!"


    Coming from a military background of the prosperous Kalwar Empire, Manjesh had a very open mind, but not even he could have imagined such a grandiose sight. More than one hundred thousand people were working as a united whole, with much more discipline than the army.


    Moreover, the Saintess''s method of constructing a city with faith energy was too convenient. You just had to gather required materials in an area, a white light would flash and the building would be completed. God Maugus was truly back. No one except him could perform such a miracle!


    "Saintess Nandini is truly favored by the God of Harmony and Order." Manjesh muttered and sighed.


    As he continued to watch, the tens of thousands of steel blocks had been used, and not even twenty minutes had passed. The inner circle steel wall had already been completed and the outer steel was also progressing with breakneck speed. All his understanding of city construction and engineering had been completely overturned.


    Players had been divided across the hundred thousand workmen for efficient control of the construction process by Saintess Nandini. She would just issue them quests and they would relay it to the workmen which made this machine like cohesion possible.


    Players could be seen shouting the construction orders excitedly all around the city. They had never been part of such a great player event in any game in their life where players would help with such a grandiose construction involving a hundred thousand NPCs.


    The GM was definitely a genius! The beta players already started to fall in love with this starter city!


    "Ready!"


    "Squad five, get ready! Move the steel block to position 4! Quickly!"


    "Move the the stones for the multi-storey building to position 672 inside the inner circle walls!"


    "Start the construction of hot springs!"


    Shouts came from all over the city. More than one hundred thousand people had been divided into nearly one hundred teams under players. Each team was led by a player and they all worked together, coordinating their duties and not interfering in each other''s task.


    Anyone who saw this sight would feel a deep shock.


    Anneliese was abuzz with activity, but nobody except those within knew what was going on.


    As Manjesh stood behind Saintess Nandini, he gazed at her back with a strange light in his eyes.


    A focused woman was incredibly alluring. At this moment, Saintess Nandini was standing still near the wall with all her attention on the construction. However, her incredible foresight, her holy aura, and her complete grasp of the overall situation had left nothing but deep respect for her in the mind of Manjesh!


    For a moment, he felt like if he followed Saintess Nandini, there was nothing that he could not accomplish!


    The day when the Kalwar Empire rises once again did not seem too far away to him now!


    ***


    Meanwhile, in the Rakshasha Village.


    The moment Legendary Rakshasa Sardar Vivek Singh saw the white light which smelled of faith energy of the despicable Supreme God Maugus, originating from the Southeastern sea coast, he sent a Raksha scout to check what was happening there!


    The galloping of hooves heralded the arrival of the monstrous warhorse of Raksha scout as it neared Saintess Nandini''s Anneliese City. The Rakshasa atop it was a veteran scout who was extremely familiar with the process.


    Although observation was a scout''s duty and he didn''t have anything to complain about, inevitably, this place was not a battlefield and he was a Rakshasa. Every day, he would go to some place, observe things, give reports¡­ He couldn''t take it anymore! His Rakshasa blood was calling for blood of his enemies and battle!


    "I must somehow manage to get a spot in the Sardar''s invading army!"


    While muttering to himself, the Rakshasa rider urged his horse forward, quickening his pace towards the observation point.


    He chose a low hill of the Himalaya Mountains to observe the area. This, coupled with the height of his monstrous warhorse, made it an excellent vantage point for surveillance. As he moved closer to the low hill, a mountainous silhouette gradually appeared before his eyes.


    "This is...?" The Rakshasa rider''s eyes widened in astonishment. He had been to this area before but the area ahead was supposed to be flat plains.


    "What''s going on here? Am I seeing things?" the Rakshasa rider wondered to himself in shock. But after a few moments, he decided to raise his head and continue. At that moment, he saw the true appearance of that ''mountain''. A sight that he would never forget.


    In the light of the morning sun, a massive, grandiose, and imposing Anneliese City had appeared over the horizon. The walls of this city were more than twelve meters tall, the height of six adult Rakshasha.


    Those gleaming metal walls were smooth and steep, appearing to be a single whole and as immovable as a mountain. In the light of the morning sun, the rider could see smoke continuing to rise from the city as the one hundred thousand humans labored to make the walls even thicker and sturdier!


    "This¡­ this is impossible!" The Rakshasa rider instantly became agitated, his eyes flying open in shock and awe.


    A massive great city with walls more than twelve meters high had appeared out of thin air! Just an elite legion with God Maugus''s clone had already cornered them to a small living space inside The Rakshasa Forest. Did those human wretches plan to push them even more until they only have The Himalaya Mountains to escape to!?


    This human city with twelve-meter walls was able to fend off any amount of Rakshasas on warhorses. The only weakness this city had was against an enemy that had come with siege ladders that could scale the twelve-meter walls.


    But twelve meters! This number was practically miraculous!


    Right now, even if a Rakshasa army attacked, the humans could just man the walls and hold the fort. And even more absurd was that these walls were being strengthened. The Rakshasa army would face massive loses if they ever attacked this city in the future!


    "No! I¡­ I have to report this to Sardar Vivek!"


    The Rakshasa rider''s heart chilled and his entire body shivered.


    "Hiyaaaah!"


    The horse galloped off as the rider set off in the direction of the Rakshasa village he had just come from.

 12 Divine Kingdom I

    True to Ahan''s assumptions, the city construction went smoothly with the help of his faith energy. Since he couldn''t stabilize his Divinity yet, there was a lot of excess faith power stored in his dysfunctional Divine Kingdom through the player''s constant killing of monsters. Therefore, he decided to make use of it to finally establish a base in The Mortal World for his believers.


    Ahan''s motto in life was "Waste is only waste if you waste it." Since he had enough faith power to make a clone and stabilize his divinity, excess faith power would only be wasted in his hands. He was still shocked by the ability of this world''s furnaces to continuously process iron ores and churn out steel blocks. After observing the whole process clearly he realized that he had underestimated this magical medieval world. Despite being in the medieval era, the use of magic in even the simplest and most ordinary forms could still produce jaw dropping results.


    Nonetheless, his attention was drawn back to his Preservation Temple; it was built in the heart of the city! It was like the symbol of the Port City Anneliese. It was a massively tall temple complex spread over ten square miles in the heart of the city, even if someone did not want to visit or see his Temple, they would still see its main temple''s top from all over Anneliese. The main temple at the center of the temple complex, where his clone would reside was 30 meters tall (98 ft).


    His temple had a symmetry-driven structure, with many variations, on a square grid of padas, depicting perfect geometric shapes such as circles and squares. The underlying principle that all his temples had always been built with was the belief that all things are one and everything is connected. This was the highest comprehension of his Divine Laws of Order and Harmony and the source of all of his power.


    A God''s Temple is a symbolic house, seat and body of divinity. It is a structure designed to bring human beings and gods together, using symbolism to express the ideas and beliefs of a God.


    This was the main difference between a God''s church and temple.


    Ahan was absolutely and completely satisfied with this Grand Temple and could see the dedication of his believers!


    ''It is time to condense a clone to once again walk the Mortal World!'' Ahan thought quietly.


    ***


    Main Temple Hall, Preservation Temple


    Nandini was devotedly praying as she knelt in front of her God''s idol. Suddenly, God Maugus''s voice sounded inside the hall. The space twisted, and his clone walked out. He looked at Nandini with a wide smile, and drew her into his embrace.


    "How long has it been, my Saintess?"


    At the peak of his power, God Maugus once had one lesser god and four peak demi-god level clones in the Mortal World. These clones along with dozens of his Preserver Church''s Legendary level Knights were the foundation of his power which helped him indirectly rule The Kalwar Empire, Maurya Kingdom, Avanta Kingdom and The Kuru Union.


    It was at such a period of glory that Nandini, an ordinary but poor village girl caught his attention. She had a pure soul and even when her parents tried to sell her for food during a plague to the biggest Slave Trading Organization of the continent, Ouroboros, lead by Sultan Dutta, The Slave King. She did not have even a shred of anger or hatred towards her parents! She only hoped that the food obtained by selling her, could help her parents and younger sister survive the plague. She did not think of her fate of never being able to escape the clutches of the Sultan Dutta.


    Nandini, an ordinary village girl of The Kalwar Empire, even in such a situation, had a firm belief in her God.


    The God of Harmony and Order, The Supreme God, Maugus.


    She remained steadfast in her belief even after she was sold to Sultan Dutta, and was kept in a cage to be sold to a noble as a beautiful pet.


    God Maugus was paying attention to her situation since the day she was sold! One of her prayers were as such:


    ''I pray to you, Supreme One.


    I believe that your plans for me are for the best.


    Maybe this process is hard and very painful.


    But, I believe that the only reason you are silent is because you are doing something for me!


    Maybe even if you are not willing to fix the situation, you hope for the situation to fix me.


    But I, who kneels before God Maugus, can stand before anyone in this world with dignity!


    No disaster in this world shall break me before I can get your Divine Grace.''


    The content of her prayers moved the Supreme God Maugus. He immediately sent his Lesser God level clone directly to Sultan Dutta and threatened the Sultan,


    "Even if one strand of Nandini''s hair goes missing, I shall immediately destroy your whole organization!"


    Dutta had no idea how he had provoked such a dangerous Yamaraj (death god) and immediately ordered all his subordinates to search for her and send her to the nearest Preservation Church as soon as possible to send away this Yama who had come to his door for his life!


    Since then, the young and intelligent village girl, Nandini, who had caught the eye of the powerful Supreme God Maugus was recognized as his Saintess. As the only Saintess of the Preservation Church, every Bishop, Archbishop and Elder tried to win her over to their faction in the Church! She saw all her dreams come true right before her very eyes, her family was given all the luxuries they could ever ask for, and she had a potential future which was too good to be true!


    Her supreme devotion to God Maugus turned into a form of bhakti-love. Without God Maugus, she felt incomplete!


    The Old God Maugus never courted Nandini as he believed; love was an entirely different matter. He firmly believed that love was a selfless emotion where you pledge to love someone with a purified nature, and as a God, he was not capable of such emotion! But, now his predominant personality was of a 22nd Century Earthling, Ahan, who could not care less about such dumb restrictions.


    The New God Maugus would not act as dense as he did before with his Saintess. Being so devoted to him deserved a reward and if she wanted his love than she shall have it!


    ''Without Nandini, Maugus is incomplete and without Maugus, Nandini cannot be complete.'' Ahan was already thinking about his future love story, he imagined it being sung by all his believers in the Mortal World.


    Dumbfounded, Nandini''s cherry lips parted slightly, and a look of disbelief overtook her face. She couldn''t believe that God Maugus embraced her. She never even thought about God Maugus reciprocating to her one-sided selfless love.


    "My Lord had been slumbering for the past ten years! It is my good fortune to be able to see you once again in this lifetime." She embraced her God tightly as she told him. Her beautiful big black eyes misted over, and tenderness surged in her heart.


    Ahan smiled, and peak Legend Rank Might spread from him as the center. He gazed at the one person who was the most devoted to him in this entire world, reached out with a palm, and gently patted her cheeks.


    "Be at ease, it is time for me to ascend again and merge with my Godhood. We will make all our enemies pay the price in blood." He took a step forward letting go off Nandini and started walking towards the Divinity Altar in the huge square of the Temple complex.


    "By your will." Nandini bowed with a mysterious glimmer in her eyes.

 13 Divine Kingdom II

    Year 857 of God''s Calendar, Preservation Temple


    In the middle of a huge square at the Temple complex, the thousand Sander elites and countless believers prostrated themselves on the ground. Dressed in a luxurious gold robe, Saintess Nandini walked along a path between the myriad of prostrated believers of God Maugus, and then reached the Divinity Altar in the square.


    With her big black eyes darker than ever, Saintess Nandini overlooked all the believers, and then said unhurriedly and calmly.


    "I am Nandini, the Saintess of the Preserver Church. I request all of you to pray with me and help our God''s Divine Kingdom ascend once again into a star in the sky!!"


    Immediately, the countless soldiers and believers knelt down and started chanting.


    "God Maugus, you are the most supreme, noble, and mightiest existence of the Mortal World."


    "Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya."


    "You are the Divine Guardian of The Kalwar Empire!"


    "We bow down to the Lord who resides in the hearts of all beings."


    "You are the Pervader ¡ª the divine essence that pervades the world."


    "God Maugus! You maintain order and harmony in the world. You are the one who restores dharma(moral order) and peace."


    "We offer you our most pious faith. From now on, we''ll return to your Divine Kingdom after death. We''ll become your shield and shield you from all harm, become your sword and kill all your enemies."


    "Supreme God Maugus!"


    "May your Divine Kingdom once again ascend into a star in the sky!"


    Uniform prayers reverberated in the middle of the square. God Maugus''s clone walked out unhurriedly, a flash of sagacity in his eyes. Countless wisps of faith energy emerged from the believers and entered him, reaching his real body in the semi-plane.


    The Godhood of Divine Law of Order and Harmony started to merge with Ahan''s real body. While the Divinity inside his clone quickly condensed, and with a thought, his clone exuded terrific Demi-God rank aura. Unlike ordinary Legend rank experts of the Mortal World, who could never cross this hurdle their entire life, Ahan''s clone easily crossed it and promoted to a Demi-God.


    Ahan''s real body finally used all the faith energy gained from the players to stabilize his Divinity! Pure divine force entered his forehead, turning into Divine Fire. Ahan''s eyes flashed with the light of wisdom as he merged with his Godhood and the remaining Divinity from before his reincarnation. The laws of the whole Mortal World shone in his eyes, Divine Law of Order and Harmony suddenly emerged and entered the Divine Fire in his forehead.


    Meanwhile, all his believers continued to pray devotedly, fueling the Divine Fire in his forehead.


    "God Maugus, you are the most supreme, noble, and mightiest existence of the Mortal World."


    "Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya."


    "You are the Divine Guardian of The Kalwar Empire!"


    "We bow down to the Lord who resides in the hearts of all beings."


    "You are the Pervader ¡ª the divine essence that pervades the world."


    "God Maugus! You maintain order and harmony in the world. You are the one who restores dharma(moral order) and peace."


    "We offer you our most pious faith. From now on, we''ll return to your divine kingdom after death. We''ll become your shield and shield you from all harm, become your sword and kill all your enemies."


    "Supreme God Maugus!"


    "May your Divine Kingdom once again ascend into a star in the sky!"


    Countless soldiers, believers and players prostrated themselves on the ground and, led by newly recruited young priests, devotedly recited prayers. The divine force of the human race once again poured into God Maugus and entered his Divine Fire.


    The hundred beta-players who were attending this mysterious event perceived it to be the game''s trailer for the official launch. While all the other players were awestruck, Asjad Iqbal was using the new feature of video recording which no one noticed in the beta version update to record this mythical event!


    ***


    Meanwhile, a day later.


    In his Divine Kingdom, Ahan''s real body finished merging with his Godhood and remaining Divinity. Inside the divine fire between his eyebrows, the merged Godhood of Order and Harmony appeared, and then absorbed all the surrounding divine fire in the dysfunctional Divine Kingdom. With his Divine Kingdom as the center, fearsome Divine Might spread in all directions in the Mortal World.


    "A new god has ascended!?"


    "Who was it? Who has ascended to godhood??"


    "A new era is upon us."


    When Ahan once again ascended as a god and completely stabilized his Divinity, the laws of the Mortal World shook. All the gods, including the other two Supreme Gods instantly perceived this change. All of them immediately started searching for his Divine Kingdom, but in vain.


    Suddenly, the power of the world''s will shrouded Ahan, and his Divine Kingdom hidden in the Mortal World in between the void layers, turned into a streak of light flying directly into the starry sky. When his Divine Kingdom reached the starry sky, all kinds of planar laws of the Mortal World surged towards him like a tide.


    Invisible fetters bound Ahan''s real body. When he advanced to a God in the Mortal World, it was inseparably linked to this world, ceasing his ability to leave. Were the Mortal World ever to be destroyed, all of the plane''s gods would die along with it. Obviously, his additional ability to sneak into Earth and get back, still remained.


    It was just that his soul was now bound to the Mortal World''s will, and he would live and die with this world. He was practically an immortal according to an Earthling''s standard. Ahan waved his hand and the Mortal World''s laws immediately entered the semi-plane. Pure divine force entered the semi-plane while Ahan also tossed countless precious materials he got from the players through quests.


    After his semi-plane absorbed all the divine force and precious materials from the Mortal World, it expanded wildly and turned into a star, ten thousand square miles in diameter, in the Mortal World''s sky. Mountain ranges, valleys, and rivers emerged. His dysfunctional Divine Kingdom had once again been restored into a true Divine Kingdom of the Mortal World.


    After the restoration of his Divine Kingdom, Ahan felt that there was a mysterious connection between the Divine Kingdom and him as well as his countless believers in the Mortal World. From now on, as long as they died in the Mortal World, the devout believers will be led into his Divine Kingdom and their souls will become his property. They will help him manage and maintain his Divine Kingdom.


    After completely merging with his Godhood and remaining Divinity, God Maugus had advanced in rank to a Weak Divine Force Rank God. But, if the other Gods fought him inside his Divine Kingdom, he would have the power of an Intermediate Divine Force Rank God.


    Of course, Ahan still had to use faith energy to refine his Divine Kingdom and infuse the Divine Laws of Order and Harmony he had grasped into his Divine Kingdom in order to strengthen himself while fighting inside it.


    Maybe it was time for him to officially launch the game on Earth! He was in an urgent need of more players. Whether it was to conquer the whole of Eastern Islands, sending expeditions to the main continent or for faith energy, his fate was linked to the player''s progress!


    "Divine Kingdom! He actually formed his own Divine Kingdom!"


    "A talented dark horse had appeared!!"


    "With a Divine Kingdom to call his own, even Intermediate Divine Force Rank Gods may have to be careful not to offend him!"


    All the gazes of the lower ranked Gods were filled with shock and envy. A Divine Kingdom was the base as well as the strongest weapon of a god. Only gods with Divine Kingdoms could receive the souls of their believers. Moreover, within their Divine Kingdom, the gods could use the various Divine Laws they grasped to shape the most favorable battle environment for them.


    In a strong enough divine country, even a Lesser God could cut across three major realms and contend against a Strong Divine Force Rank God. However, the comprehension of their Divine Laws and the amount of faith energy required to construct a whole new Divine Kingdom from scratch took hundreds of thousands of years to fulfill for an ordinary God.


    Among the Mortal World''s gods, there were many gods who still didn''t possess a Divine Kingdom of their own. These Gods resided in the Divine Kingdoms of other gods by joining their pantheons. Usually, only Gods of the Strong Divine Force Rank were qualified enough to hold another God in their Divine Kingdom. Within their Divine Kingdom, an area would be drawn out for the God of their pantheon to receive their believers.


    Whenever a God just ascended to Godhood, they would be in their weakest state. That was because they didn''t have a Divine Kingdom to call their own. Even if they did possess a Divine Kingdom, it would still be difficult to engrave their Divine Laws into it in a short period of time. Divine Kingdoms without laws inscribed into them were the most coveted treasures among the rest of the gods of the Mortal World. Some Weak Divine Force Rank Gods and even Intermediate Divine Force Rank Gods would attack a Lesser God with a Divine Kingdom of their own who just ascended to Godhood and steal their Divine Kingdom.


    But, as an old timer, his Divine Kingdom was already hidden from the moment he ascended and turned into a star in the Mortal World''s sky. If the other Gods tried to search for his Divine Kingdom, it was bound to be in vain!

 14 Fame

    The first player event had turned into a great construction war between the beta players and all of them were waiting for the results with bated breath! After the completion of the Great Port City Anneliese and the ascension of God Maugus'' Divine Kingdom to a star in the sky or what the players called the official game trailer, a sacred sound of bells ringing, like church bells on a Sunday morning in the Mortal World marked the end of the first player event!


    [The Construction War has ended. The rankings are as follows]:


    [ First place: AsjadIqbal


    Second place: Mihirsss


    Third place: Abduleria


    Fourth place: Sandy


    Fifth place: VanditTraveller


    Sixth place: ChitwandeepKaur


    Seventh place: Lavanya8


    Eighth place: PandaBubble


    Ninth place: ParthArora


    Tenth place: IshitaQuiet ]


    [Thanks for the players'' constant support to our game. These ten players with outstanding performances have earned special rewards!]


    [The players ranked eighth to tenth will win a Level 25 Silver Weapon or Armor (based on player''s choice) of the player''s respective class. The players ranked fourth to seventh will be rewarded with 300 faith coins. The top three players will gain 500 faith coins. Last but not the least, the Champion will be additionally rewarded with 1,000 faith coins and be crowned with the event title, the Beta Version''s Star.]


    [Note: The Beta Launch of Eve of Gods will end in an hour. All the levels of beta-players will reset to 0. However, Pantheon will bind the faith coins and equipment to your accounts so that you can retain them when you login after the official launch! Pantheon will officially launch Eve of Gods in a week. For all the beta-players, there is a celebration event in Anneliese''s biggest bar.]


    [Everything is on the house! ~ Have fun. (Pantheon)]


    After the event had ended, all the beta players headed to the bar. However, the top ten beta-players on the leader board were especially jubilant and the Champion Mr. AsjadIqbal was already running around shouting ''Allah hu Akbar'' as a greeting to everyone he met on the way! Meanwhile, in the bar, about a hundred beta players sat down together with the NPCs they got close to during the Construction War Event, the top ten sharing their rewards of the day while boasting to one another on how hard they worked to coordinate the workers in the event.


    This was the first time for these beta players to be able to relax so freely in a VR game which felt like another world. They enjoyed this kind of warm atmosphere. The relationship among the various beta players was complicated; some were supportive comrades while some were notorious enemies and some even being a group of gaming buddies in real life who happily savored on the free delicacies and crude ginger beer in the bar voraciously.


    But, this sincere attitude of treating one another straightforwardly with open heartedness in the game was not only comforting but also a very memorable event. Removing their preconceived superficial masks of reality here in this magical world might have enhanced their crudeness, but what was there to be afraid of in this new reality with no consequences?


    With amplified voices, mouthfuls of ginger beer were gulped down as words were spoken freely under the pretense that beta version was coming to an end. When Saintess Nandini joined the celebration, the atmosphere instantly reached the peak! Friendly challenges were held between the players to chuck a whole jug of beer in one go to impress the Saintess.


    As the celebration ended, all of the drunk players were casually thrown out of the game by the lurker Supreme God Maugus!


    ***


    2140, India


    As soon as AsjadIqbal logged out, he downloaded the Game Trailer VR recording, screenshots and third person clips he made later on to his PC and made a new category on his VRtube channel called ''Maugus World''s Exploration Journal''. He completely edited the VR video with the VR Pinnacle Studio software and added an otherworldly background music throughout the video which would enthrall the audience.


    VRtube is an Indian online VR simulation video platform headquartered in Connaught Place, New Delhi. Almost everyone in the world used it to play VR videos with close to 70% simulation on their virtual reality headsets with its annual revenue being 30 billion USD or 207,750 crores INR. This platform was a massive International giant!


    All the famous VRtubers just like the Youtubers of the the last century were very rich celebrities! In most cases, the average revenue per 1,000 views for any given VRtuber would be around Rs 100 to 250. However, if you had a hardcore audience which watched every video till the very end, you could expect to earn Rs 250 ¨C 500 per 1,000 views or Rs 2,10,000 ¨C Rs 4,90,000 per 1 million views on a VR video.


    Asjad hit the ''Upload'' button and finally released the first episode of his new category on the VRtube platform!


    Maugus World''s Exploration Journal: Beta Version


    ...


    AsjadIqbal had a bit of a reputation in the VRtube Gaming Community as a pro PubG player, and the moment the VR video was released, his die-hard fans and curious lurkers immediately clicked into it.


    "Finally, this should be spicy!"


    "A surprise release!"


    "The subject is that new perfect VR simulation game in its beta phase. Has Asjad switched over!?"


    The VR Video was released and the video traffic was huge. With the addition of old viewers watching, the number of viewers increased quite a lot. The opening titles consisted of the promo edit of the Character Selection in the start and some VR screenshots of the scenery of the Himalaya Mountains and other monsters in the game like Gajodhar and Tendua before the video began. The first thing that appeared was the third person''s perspective of player AsjadIqbal in the game.


    The background was Great Port City Anneliese. Asjad waved in the direction of the camera and his opening line was a soliloquy.


    "This world built on science! Fake emotions in the form of pills, psychological warfare in the form of virtual reality, mind-altering chemicals in the form of nutrition supplements, brainwashing VR videos in the form of media, controlled isolated bubbles in the form of social media networks. Real? You want to talk about reality? We haven''t lived in anything remotely close to it since the turn of the 21st century. However, this game right here is the opportunity for you to remove the superficial masks of reality!


    Welcome to Maugus World''s Exploration Journal. I am Asjad and Allah hu Akbar!!!"


    A barrage filled with ridicule followed.


    "What is this arrogant know-it-all soliloquy?"


    "Is this new game this good!?"


    "How confident! If the game isn''t as good as he is saying, I am gonna sue him!"


    Asjad continued in the video. "There hasn''t been a new upload in a long time. Being the first episode of the EvG game series, I''ll share VR videos which I recorded in-game and let everyone have a taste of the beta players'' experience! I suspect that this would also be the official game trailer in the future!"


    "Wow, awkward talking time, I salute you! Respect++"


    "Finally, his soliloquy ends!"


    "That''s what we originally came here for!"


    The lens switched over to show Asjad''s perspective during God Maugus'' Divine Kingdom ascension to a star in the sky. The official content began now. The video content consisted of the recording done by Asjad, and it became different segments after rounds of editing. The special effects and the narration were then added on later. Asjad used a humorous style, explaining how his squad went to rescue Saintess Nandini and how comically they decided to finally help out after getting a divine intervention from God Maugus himself!


    How Saintess Nandini single handedly planned out the construction of the Anneliese City and gathered all the resources for it.


    How the beta players worked with 100,000 NPCs to construct their own player city for the official launch! He also showed off his rewards as the Champion and his title of Beta Version''s star!


    How God Maugus, player faction''s God, finally ascended once again! Saintess Nandini praying was absolutely breathtaking and instantly had a surge of fans in the VR gaming community!


    He ended his video with the friendly beer competition to impress Saintess Nandini and with the drunk, but happy laughter of all the players!


    After watching Asjad''s video, driven by curiosity, all the viewers clicked on the Eve of Gods website as they wanted to see the brief introduction of the game as well as the company behind it!


    100% near perfect simulation, almost similar to reality? Is this game for real?


    It was made by a new but small gaming company called ''Pantheon''!?


    Everyone was baffled upon seeing the introduction and just as they were about to trash talk on Asjad''s VR video comment section, famous pro players from different popular VR games in the gaming community also started commenting on Asjad''s video.


    ParthArora: "I have to say, you will probably miss out on an epochal VR game if you are simply judging it by the brief introduction on its main website and on the suspicions about the new small gaming company!"


    IshitaQuiet: "Found it by accident, but no regrets! This is my new reality."


    Mihirsss: "My experience in the game was extremely similar to reality, I was appalled by the level up sensation as I had the distinct impression that my body was also getting stronger. What kind of feeling is that? I chose to be a rogue and I could feel myself going at lightning speed in the game, like Flash. I''m addicted to the feeling of being a superhuman."


    VanditTraveller: "I''m a man of immense curiosity and love traveling! In order to explore the game, I did not follow the instructions of the first quest to go the Himalaya Mountains to hunt wolves but wandered around the game in wanderlust instead. Apart from the scenery and places in the game that looked extremely real and left me in astonishment, I''ve made friends with a lot of NPCs. I fully feel that they are actual intelligent species in another reality standing before me, rather than just an NPC. This game is too terrifying, they are probably using advanced AIs as NPCs. Oh yeah, a reminder in good faith, don''t try to mess with the NPCs in the game out of curiosity, I was fucking killed! These NPCs are ruthless and very strong!! [Triggered.giphy]"


    These beta players were very famous influencers in the VRtube gaming community. Their highly complementary remarks had certainly incited the curiosity of all the viewers and the video views kept on climbing up crossing 10million. It reached trending #1 in India!


    With time, almost all the beta players had commented on the video and had been pinned to the top by Asjad.


    Abduleria: "Impressive. Never in my life did I expect to come across such an awesome game; I firmly give my vote."


    Sandy: "Where is the Pantheon at, care to explain what the heck is the 2-hour respawning period for?"


    ChitwandeepKaur: "We want the top up function after the official launch! #FortifiedByRupees"


    Lavanya8: "Crimson Lily guild has officially decided to enter the game and is recruiting pro players in advance!"


    PandaBubble: "My vote goes to this game, and I hope you guys won''t overlook such an awesome game."


    The video went viral! All Indian pro players were collectively planning to switch over as soon as the game was officially launched!

 15 Pantheon I

    2140, Earth


    Magnetic levitation (Maglev) or magnetic suspension is the method by which 22nd Century hover-cars fly in the air with no support other than magnetic fields. Magnetic force is used to counteract the effects of the gravitational acceleration


    In 2098, an IIT graduate, Aditya, came out with the idea of turning the biggest highway of India with 8 main lane and 4 (2+2) service lanes into a magnetic levitation track! NH 44, which covered the North-South Corridor of NHDP and was officially listed as running over 3,745 km (2,327 mi) from Srinagar to Kanyakumari, was the longest national highway in India.


    Aditya used various construction machines ranging from asphalt mixing plant to crawler excavator on this project. He used a new model of construction vehicle which he called "Magno". The "Magno" was equipped with a pile driver at the front. These prism shaped magnetic field generating devices were driven under the roads from Srinagar to Kanyakumari, and the cement was re-casted and paved with asphalt.


    He also co-founded an automobile startup called Upvas, Sanskrit word for ''quick'' which produced a new generation of hover-cars equipped with magnetic levitation! These pure electric hover-cars were a 3/8 scale concept models, designed to have three ducted fans, each with their own motor, which would lift it off the ground and move it through the air onto the maglev roads. These vehicles had a magnetic suspension drive installed on its chassis, keeping it suspended on the maglev roads.


    As practical hover-car models and the first stable maglev version, Upvas was safe, reliable and had an environment-friendly operation both on public roads and in the air. It received widespread adoption throughout India as it was also able to fly without a qualified driver at the helm through AIs especially made for autonomous flying vehicles and came at an affordable price and running costs.


    Aditya''s startup quickly turned into an actual company called "Upvas motors" through the operations of hover-cars and trucks on the first Maglev Highway in India, NH44. Based on the same technology as Tesla''s conceptual hyper-loop, and the high-speed rail in Japan, the Upvas hover-car seemed to have a very bright future if all the roads it travels on could be turned into maglev roads!


    Aditya personally exchanged opinions with the Prime Minister of India and Upvas quickly transformed into a state owned company! India started its Maglev revolution and all the roads in India were engineered and rebuilt with magnetic field and levitation in mind. Upvas, in collaboration with the RTO quickly came out with the Automobile Maglev Regulations.


    These new regulations designated the area between 4 and 32 meters above the road as a driving/flying zone for hover-cars; no drones or other flying devices were permitted to fly in this area above the roads. Based on different speeds, four different tracks with different heights were delineated. The first track was a buffer track with a height of four meters and a speed limit of less than ten kmph, which was the speed of a hover-car in the first gear.


    The second track was about 8 meters high with a speed limit of 80-100kmph, which was the speed of a hover-car in the second gear.


    The third track was about 16 metres high with a speed limit of 120-160kmph, which was the speed of a hover-car in the third gear. The third gear was the maximum gear and speed for manual driving in a hover car!


    The fourth track was 32 metres high and was an AI controlled track with a fixed speed of 250 kmph! Hover-cars were faster and safer than their road counterparts. As hover-cars driving at the same height were equal in speed, so there was no problem with collisions or rear-end collisions. When entering the top track, hover-cars entered the AI driving mode with the speed locked at 250 kmph.


    After setting the route, artificial intelligence ??replaced the driver to complete driving tasks. But, there would always be troublemakers in every era! A mid-air collision between several hover-cars, due to falsified position data being sent to each car with the intent of causing a collision on NH-44 from a terrorist hacker changed everything! Upvas and RTO came with new rules and regulations thus, solving this problem by message integrity and authentication!


    There were adjustments in the details of overpasses, acceleration, parking, traffic lights, changing tracks, and drivers'' licenses. There were also relevant regulations in the traffic management. A total of 50,000 words partially detailed all the problems.


    At this point, India''s traffic had officially leaped to the three-dimensional traffic era. All the automobile companies followed Upvas'' example and came out with their own hover-car models. Tata, Maruti Suzuki, Toyota and Mahendra made budget and high-end hover-cars while brand names like Ferrari, Bugatti and Mercedes came up with their aesthetically pleasing luxury models.


    ***


    Myntra VR Store, Tilak Nagar


    Charu Gupta was Ahan''s childhood friend, they were together since playschool and Ahan also joined PEC because of her! She was one year older than him and graduated from PEC(Punjab Engineering College) with a dual Bachelors degree in virtual reality and business administration. Her stellar academic record along with a stunning appearance made everyone shower her with praise and envy, and she graduated at the top of the class.


    Even though the both of them had been inseparable since they were kids and took admission in the same university, they lived completely different lives. Because of family''s money problems, Charu didn''t pursue post- graduate studies whereas Ahan planed to do his Masters from abroad. She chose to work at a Myntra as their VR Programmer right after she got her degree.


    Due to her outstanding performance and dual degree, she was promoted to store manager at an excellent location by the upper management of Myntra. This gave her the perfect platform to display her prowess.


    Once she was promoted, she immediately implemented a list of new action plans for both VR programmers and store employees which were aimed at increasing the store''s sales substantially. However, because of her strict performance measures and perpetual expressionless face, she acquired the name ''Ice Princess'' behind her back!


    Maybe it was due to her eagerness to prove herself or her inexperience, Charu did not realize that although the constantly high-pressure environment she introduced brought short-term improvements, it made the overall work atmosphere oppressive.


    Humans are not machines! They have emotions and needs even in a work environment! When an average salary started to conflict with Charu''s exceptionally high expectations, unrest grew between the store employees and they boycotted her which ultimately impacted the sales figure negatively. Maybe she was justified in her management, but she didn''t consider the most important thing; human emotions.


    The upper management ultimately decided to let the relatively inexperienced store manager who caused the store great losses, go.


    Charu, who was appraised as the top student of the PEC(Punjab Engineering College), actually lost her job in a matter of three months.


    As smart as she was, she realized what she did wrong. However, it was too late to fix everything. Her dad had already passed away when she was 5 years old and to educate Charu, her mother had taken an education loan from her brother, Uday Thakur, who had always eyed their only property, their flat! Although with her ability it would not be difficult to find another job to repay the loan. There were so many graduates each year that it would be a nightmare to standout in the competitive IT Industry market once again. She had already lost her competitive edge by getting fired from Myntra!


    Also, all the offers she got on Linkedin were based on preposterous conditions, such as high salary and other benefits in exchange for a one night stand with the HR Director. If the candidate did not comply, then they moved on to the next one.


    In a country as populated as India with 2.3 billion people, it was not difficult to find someone with ability who was willing to work at an even lower salary. In India, if you did not pick a 30,000 per month job, someone would pick the same job for 25,000 per month! So, all kids were taught to grab the first opportunity they get.


    As the date of giving back the education loan came closer, her Uncle started threatening and harassing her mother. She thought about calling the police, but the loan was not from an official source like a bank or something to begin with and her uncle had a contract with the flat as a collateral!


    She made a living working part-time in hopes of solving the problem through legal means. At the same time, she desperately maintained her hopes of finding an ideal job back in the IT Industry. But she knew her luck ran out when she came out of a departmental store. A few seemingly malicious buff and tall guys, along with her uncle surrounded her.


    They were clearly not there to negotiate and were going to take away their flat forcefully!

 16 Pantheon II

    2140, Sushma Infinium, Earth


    A money-less person is insulted even by his own wife.'' Ahan found this quote while he was surfing the Quantum Network when he was a kid and it just stuck with him! He came from a very middle class family of India and in the previous three generations of his family, that he knew of, and that were documented, nobody knew what fame felt like!


    While he was growing up, money was a big differentiator in his life. He was taught from a young age, that if he could not earn enough to be able to take care of himself and his future family, he would just be a worthless person. His family asked him to complete any degree of his choice and get a job! That was their only requirement of him.


    His family told him that money plus recognition is equal to happiness and happiness is equal to success! So, if he were to be precise, he had already started out as a failure since he had neither of them. According to his family, once he got a job and started earning that would be like opening the door to all kinds of happiness. After getting a job, he would be forever happy and he would be forever successful!


    Ahan experienced this kind of middle class life while growing up on Earth! Therefore, he became very good in his studies, he did fairly well in his tenth board exams and then he slogged in several coaching institutes in his twelfth class! He got selected for several engineering colleges and he decided to take admission in PEC (Punjab Engineering College) due to the influence of Charu.


    There was a celebration in his family and he could finally, stop for a while and breathe.


    He told himself.


    "You know what? Now, you have made it! You should be happy because you are supposed to be happy."


    But, it wasn''t working out for him! He tried to get into Entrepreneurship and VR Simulation projects, but even after everything, something was still missing! There was a void that he could feel inside him growing bigger. He thought that something even bigger was required. So, he started writing as a hobby and published a webnovel online in the Quantum Network.


    Once he started writing he knew one thing for sure, he quite liked it! He started thinking about it and realized that his family expected only two things of him - to earn money and to be recognized for his work. Therefore, he aimed to become a professional webnovel writer and once again slogged for his goal. However, this time there was one difference; he was driven!


    Ahan''s webnovel became popular and he got his first big break with a big Publishing House in India owned by Mr. Aditya, CEO of Upvas, a business tycoon of India and Asia''s richest man. He started earning money and people started recognizing him due to his frequent appearances on newspapers, VR Television events and other high profile events.


    He would deliberately go and roam in all these malls so that people could look at him, smile and ask for a photograph with him! He was making good money to a point that money stopped being a differentiator in his life! He bought himself his dream house at Sushma Infinium and picked the top floor with the best view of Chandigarh in this skyscraper. He also bought himself his dream luxury hover-car, Mercedes Benz X-Class! He was getting so much female attention which his engineering college friends could only dream of!


    Ahan was having the time of his life! But, something unusual happened. He got used to everything. He got used to owning all these things and he felt cheated. He stayed with all these dreams of his for the past ten to fifteen years of his life, he was promised success and he was promised happiness. But all these things stayed with him for just a few days.


    It was then that he realized the difference between chasing his dreams and living his dreams that no one ever told him about when he started out! He realized the biggest lie and the only truth he was told about success. The biggest lie was that:


    Money + Recognition = Happiness = Success


    and the only truth was that some things seemingly very big, were not really that big once he got them and looking back at his past, he realized that those smaller things were way bigger! There was only one thing that was missing in his life, which was also the cause of this illusion and that one thing that was missing was NOW!


    All those years, he was just so obsessed with what''s going to happen that he used to draw flow charts that if this happened he would do this, and at this point in time, he would be in this position. He wanted to be in control so much that he was obsessed with his future and took responsibility for his entire past! But, all he was doing was that he was frequently swinging from his past to his future and he was not living in the actual sense.


    Ahan suddenly decided to finish his current webnovel and decided to start another one! But, this time he was not focusing on earning money but refining and giving a quality work to his readers that they would enjoy and love. A webnovel which would help them indulge and forget about their daily troubles in life while they read his webnovel.


    He got excited once again and started writing with such dedication that there was no room to think about the past and the future! He understood that the true meaning of success was his "now" plus "excitement"! In his childhood, 6 to 8 was the time he was allowed to go out and play with his friends! For the whole day, he would wait for it to be 6pm and the next two hours felt like 5 minutes. He couldn''t understand it back then but after writing webnovels for the past three years in his life and all of them being the top seller in India, Ahan could very honestly and confidently tell anyone that he was living that 6 to 8 life for the past three years. He felt that the cause and effects were not really that different! Excitement is the cause and excitement is the effect. He gets high again and again while writing his webnovels that all the success mantras; hardwork, belief, focus, vision, talent and risk taking are now the side effects of the process itself!


    Hardwork doesn''t feel like hardwork and there is nothing else you can do but persist! As talent you will cultivate, vision you will get and with focus there is no other way because your work is already commanding so much of your attention. That is why, he felt that if he were to launch Eve of Gods as his first VR Game in India, he would never think about earning money from it! He would let the game be what it was, another world, another reality and he would strive to make it a fair and new beginning for the players in their lives.


    Ahan had zero knowledge of business administration and he felt that if he wanted complete control of the gaming company ''Pantheon'' he was about to set up, the person at the helm of the company, together with him, must be someone he could wholeheartedly trust. The only person he could think of was his childhood best friend; Charu Gupta.


    He called on her landline number to ask Aunty whether he could come over for dinner tonight as he knew that the Ice Princess would never talk while she was at work! When Aunty answered the call, she sounded very worried and told Ahan about how Charu lost her job and about the education loan. She told him how Charu went out to the general store and it has already been an hour since then and she was not even answering her mobile. Aunty was so worried about her that Ahan immediately asked her to calm down and hurried off to the General Store while mumbling to himself.


    "Damn, Ice Princess is too prideful for her own good! When will she learn to ask me for help!?"

 17 Pantheon III

    2140, Outside General Store, Earth


    Uday Thakur, the CEO of a small IT company, was a "half-gunda" boss. He was not a full gunda (Hindi for ''gangsters'') but neither was he any normal white collar boss either. He often liked to call his co-workers and banter with them. He would attack the young male co-workers in their twenties by insulting and harassing them. He even secretly sexually harassed female employees of his company.


    Now, people would question why there was still sexual harassment going on in the 22nd Century Earth when sexual harassment had already been heavily criminalized since the beginning of the 21st Century. This was because in the year 2140, India suffered from record-high levels of unemployment due to a long-term recession caused by all the major industries being taken over by AIs, drones and smart machines.


    From the perspective of the workers in Uday''s IT company, they had to endure harassment if they did not want to lose their jobs. Furthermore, Uday Thakur was very cunning and sly with his harassment, making it a bit too vague for any formal accusation. It was fair to say that at this point, he had reached a legendary level in the profession of a harasser.


    Uday''s target for the day was his own niece who had been unemployed for a while and was in no condition to pay her loan.


    "Hello beautiful lady. Looks like you have been quite well off in the last few days!?? A well built but short guy of 172cm height whistled and stood beside her Uncle Uday rascally. He was known as "Munna Bhai" and was a thug under Uday Thakur.


    He had been a professional wrestler for ten years. One time, Munna single-handedly dealt with five attackers to save Uday which allowed him to receive special recognition from him. Although he was not a person of importance, he led all of Uday''s goons in the city. Rebellious students from the nearby high schools and colleges in Chandigarh also called him "Don Munna". He enjoyed being the center of attention.


    He spent the majority of his time as a bodyguard at Uday''s company building and occasionally came out with him to collect loans. It was an excellent lifestyle for him. An evil smile emerged on Munna''s face. His bunch of goons already surrounded the General Store. The customers who were there, immediately left. The usually busy General Store of the neighborhood was suddenly empty.


    The store owner was trembling with a frightened look. He was also afraid to call the cops as he didn''t want any more trouble!


    "Come out? Do you need us to send you a formal invitation?" Munna once again blew a whistle and looked at her as if she was his prey while Uday looked on silently from the background.


    Charu bit her lips. Her flawless but emotionless face was covered with absolute despair. She noticed the plea in the store owner''s eyes. She sighed as she put her ration bag down. She walked over to her Uncle and his cronies.


    "I heard you lost your job at Myntra. Do you have the money for me?" Uday reached for her face to pat her cheeks. But to his surprise, the resilient girl avoided his hand.


    "I''ll repay the money as soon as I find another full time job. Please don''t bother me anymore." She took in a deep breath and answered with a face devoid of any emotions.


    "Work? When will you find a good job? How long would we have to wait? Keke." He didn''t seem angry when she avoided his hand, but a cold light filled his eyes.


    "What do you want?" With a stern face, Charu glared at her evil Uncle. She was terrified as her legs trembled. But the resiliency deep in her bones made her stand her ground.


    ''Even though she is scared to death, she is still giving me attitude.'' Uday raised his eyebrows, and he pondered with a smile.


    "Two options. Flat, or you." He put up two fingers with an evil grin.


    "We will never give you the flat even if we have to go to the court!" Charu tried to remain calm and negotiate with her Uncle.


    "Then, the solution is simple. We''ll take you." Her shameless Uncle reached his hand out to shake as if the deal was already made.


    "Me? Dream on!" Charu shouted at the remark, "Aren''t you guys afraid that I will report you to the police!?"


    "Hahahahaha."


    Everyone, including Uday and Munna, laughed hysterically.


    That made Charu feel humiliated. She didn''t think it was funny at all, but she could not deliver a witty enough comeback. She thought she could live a fulfilled life as an independent woman by working hard. She would support herself, her mother and realize her value.


    But the reality was harsh and life was never fair!


    "No, no, that''s a waste. Especially, for a beauty like you." Finally finished laughing, Uday looked at the thugs behind him, "At least we need to let everyone here get a taste of you for a few years before selling you to someone as a wife. What do you think, Munna?"


    "Hahaha, maybe we will even visit you occasionally after you are married!"


    "Come on guys. I mean I do love wh*res, but I never said I was gonna marry one."


    After hearing all the perverted comments by the goons of her Uncle, Charu almost fainted with anger and fear. She wanted to cry; she wanted someone to save her right now; she could only think of one person who could save her from this situation.


    ''Why did I not tell him about all of this before!?''


    Tears of humiliation filled her eyes, and she even thought of killing herself. If they tried to take her away, then it would be better off to die.


    Uday was experienced in debt collection. He knew what his niece was thinking when he saw her expression!


    "Charu, I know this is unfortunate for you, but this is the rule of my business. You pay me if you owe me money. Don''t worry, on account of you being my niece, if you work hard for a couple of years to please all my boys, you can leave once you pay your debt off. No one would know anyways. Then, in the end, you can just leave the city and marry someone nice. Think of your mom, Charu."


    That was a tactical move from Uday. Sticks and carrots were clich¨¦, but they were extremely useful. The perverted rude comments were probably part of the plan to set all of this up. Gundey are the scariest when they are knowledgeable and well managed.


    However, before Uday could force Charu to answer, a black Mercedes Benz X-Class hover-car removed itself from the buffer zone and parked right in front of the General Store. A well built black haired man with the height of 180cm got out of the car.


    "Uday, you fat pig with a beer belly that sexually harasses for a living. What the hell are you doing here!?"


    Uday paused momentarily. With teary eyes, Charu looked at the man with pure relief. She immediately moved to stand behind Ahan. She fully trusted him, he had saved her countless times before! Since they were kids, Ahan had always been her knight in shining amour and had always helped her out of any difficult situation.


    Ahan continued. "I heard the conversation. How much does she owe you, fatty?"


    Uday was dumbfounded. He was shocked by what just happened. Who would dare to talk with him like this? He examined Ahan with his eyes squinted. In his opinion, this guy was too calm and collected. Uday was definitely going to bring back the girl, if possible.


    The education loan was nothing compared to the potential revenue she could generate at his legal brothel. This girl''s perfect cold look and her gorgeous figure would sell her as the top prostitute. That was the real cash generating business for him!


    ??Buddy, are you looking for trouble?" Uday sneered as he reached for Ahan.


    "My clothes are expensive, you fatso. Can you buy me a new one if you rip it?" Ahan snickered as he clinched onto Uday''s hand. With his Weak Divine Force Rank God power, he could even destroy the whole Asian continent if he felt like it, these thugs of the modern world were nothing more than ants in his eyes.


    Uday Thakur felt as if both of his hands were clamped down. He couldn''t even move a single inch.


    ''F*ck, is this guy a professional boxer or something!?''


    He realized that he messed with the wrong person. Although he wanted to back out of all of this, but since all of his boys were watching, the ruthless side of him came out and he continued struggling to get out of of his hold! Ahan then pushed Uday away.


    "F*ck, you think you are a hero? Boys, beat him up!" Munna saw the tide of the fight turn. He wanted to escalate the fight from one-on-one to a full brawl. Ahan sighed at their stupidity.


    "Why don''t we go to the ally there? There''s monitoring here." Ahan casually pointed to the alley beside the General Store hidden away from the passerby and cameras.


    Uday paused again. Ahan''s reaction was abnormal to him. He didn''t look the slightest bit afraid which made Uday unsure. However, since he already proposed it, it would be a hit to his self respect if he didn''t agree in front of his thugs. His reputation must be maintained!


    Ahan stepped into the alley before Uday, Munna and their goons. A sneer appeared on Uday''s face as he followed Ahan into the alley.


    ''Regardless of whether you are pro boxer or not, there is no way you could take on ten people together. Do you think you are a South Indian Superhero?'' He left his most useless thugs to keep an eye on Charu. While the rest of the thugs followed him into the alley.


    Worried about Ahan''s safety, Charu anxiously thought about all the possible solutions. She considered calling the police, but the thugs that were left behind to guard her were looking at her fiercely. She glanced over at the friendly store owner that she bought ration from everyday, but he just pretended he didn''t see anything.


    She had the urge to cry with a mixture of emotions. Not because she was afraid, but because she felt helpless.


    ***


    Ahan, Uday Thakur, Munna, along with an extra eight thugs faced off inside the alley.


    ''Hmm¡­ I think I should talk to Mr. Aditya about EvG.'' Ahan was busy thinking of other things, even in front of all these well-built gangsters. It was understandable. A Dragon would not be afraid or restless because of some ants on him, just bothered, and like so, Ahan didn''t have any interest.


    ''First, I''ll rest for a couple of days. Then, I will convince Charu to work for me and oh... a building! I need to buy a building for the EvG Head Quarters in Punjab.'' Right then, he decided that he would buy a building like a normal person would think of buying a new phone or watch.


    ''I need security guards and bodyguards as well. I am about to become a very rich person, afterall!''


    It is just too unsafe for a famous person''s family in India. Although it would cost some money, but for the safety of his family, friends and future employees, he should hire some. Just as the thought flashed through his mind, it brought his eyes to the gangsters standing in front of him.


    "Here are just the perfect ones at the perfect time."Ahan''s mouth flashed a very happy grin.


    Coincidentally, Uday Thakur met the eyes of Ahan and shivered, as cold chills spread all over his body. He felt uneasy as if he had become prey, which also hurt his ego. He had the premonition that he was about to be beaten to a pulp.


    "Hey, you goon leader."Ahan called out to Munna.


    "Goon leader?"


    "Well, of course you are a goon leader. What else would you be, CEO of goons?"


    "You little bitch!"


    "I''m not afraid of you, so cut the intimidation short. I want to make an offer."


    All the ten gangsters, including Uday and Munna were speechless for a moment, and Ahan continued.


    "You."


    Kang Chul-In poked Munna''s chest.


    "Work for me."


    Don Munna was speechless and stared at him, baffled at this unimaginable situation. He could think of nothing else than to beat some sense into this rude little super hero bastard. The problem was that the one who said this meant every single word he uttered.


    "You crazy bastard!"


    Uday, who could not hold his anger any longer at being ignored by everyone, roared, and took a swing at Ahan.


    "What is this? Fatty, you fight like a little girl!"


    Ahan easily dodged the swing and threw a knee kick with a tinge of faith energy mixed. With a large ripping noise, Uday Thakur crashed into the nearby wall and fell to the ground like a rag doll and fainted.


    "B-boss! Let''s kill him!" All the gangsters trained by Munna called out to him and lunged at Ahan.


    They tried to pin down Ahan by using their superior numbers. However, Ahan was a bona fide God. Even without a single bit of his faith energy, his power would be unmatched by ordinary mortals.


    Boom, boom!


    A One-Two punch landed on one gangster''s face.


    Crack!


    And a hook landed on another gangster''s chin.


    Thud!


    A large gangster fell on the ground, making a sound so loud that it seemed as if the ground itself had split in half. He was silent. He had been knocked out.


    "This bastard¡­ is he truly a professional boxer?" Don Munna who had seen all his subordinates fall in a flash then realized that he had messed with the wrong man.


    "Keke, boxer, huh? Anyways, why don''t you give an answer to my generous and appealing offer?" Ahan answered, smirking.


    "Son of a bitch! I can be beaten but not humiliated, let''s fight it out."


    "Sure, it looks like you need some mental training!"


    "Shut your mouth!"


    And with that, Don Munna lunged at Ahan. Ahan noticed that Munna was using a ground-fighting technique commonly used by wrestlers as he lurched at him like a bear. It seemed like he had a professional wrestler background. ''Even better!'' Ahan thought as he smirked.


    "Only one of us will walk alive out of this alley today!" Munna roared.


    You could feel the determination in his voice to pin Ahan to the ground.


    But.


    Unfortunately, Don Munna''s determination was nothing but a delusion. Ahan had been gifted in his strength and leadership at birth, but he was also an extremely hard-working person. In his past life, he was a Supreme God who had created and mastered numerous martial arts.


    Don Munna, who was a mortal expert at best, was no match for Ahan. He turned his body and bore into Munna''s sides.


    "Kek!" There was a brief surprised shout as Ahan grabbed Don Munna''s waist and lifted him backwards, flipping him on his back. It was a modified Suplex from the fantasy Mortal World.


    Thud!


    Munna landed on his back on the hard ground!


    "Aaa-aargh!" Munna gripped his back and moaned in pain.


    "Stand up. It doesn''t even hurt that bad. Don''t act like a drama queen, aren''t you a pro wrestler!?" Ahan said heartlessly.


    To be honest, a suplex is not a skill that inflicts too much damage, but that is in the case when the skill is performed on top of a mat. If it is performed on bare ground, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the damage could be fatal.


    "Y-you son of a bitch! I''ll kill you!" Don Munna stood up with great difficulty and lunged at Ahan again. It seemed like he had quite a bit of pain tolerance and endurance, being a goon leader and all.


    ''Not bad, he would indeed be a good bodyguard. But, he needs to know his place first!'' Ahan recognized Munna''s endurance and decided that he would give him such a mental training that he would never forget for his whole life. If you wanted someone to work under you, you should show power that is insurmountable to always be in control. This is how he did things as a God!


    Chapak!


    Ahan spun a low-kick, hitting Munna''s calf.


    "A-AAARGH!" Munna screamed. However, he wasn''t fazed and was starting to get used to it, and he came at Ahan again, closing the distance between them. It was a don''s pride that would not allow him to lose.


    ''Oh? How long are you going to hold out?'' Ahan thought as he hit Munna''s left calf again with a low kick. He hit the same spot!


    Chapak!


    A tenacious, clear sound filled the alley.


    "AAAARGH!" It would not have been a surprise if Munna had broken his tendons.


    Plop. Munna fell to his knees. His legs had gone limp.


    "Hmm¡­ it probably didn''t break?" Ahan looked at Munna as if he was a clay doll that he had molded and mumbled to himself. For Don Munna, who heard everything, Ahan was just adding fuel to fire.


    "You evil bastard! Just beat me up! Why do you hit the same place over and over again, you devil!?" Munna exclaimed as if he was complaining of an unfair situation. As he was screaming, tears were streaming down his face, and snot was running from his nose. In the alley beside the General Store in Tilak Nagar, a grownup adult who was also a goon leader by profession was crying with snot running down his face!


    "Hmm¡­ he still hasn''t learned." Looking at his masterpiece, Ahan''s face seemed very unsatisfied.


    "Haven''t learned yet?" Munna flinched with undisguised terror. Was this not over yet?


    "I''ll train you just for a little while longer." Ahan flashed an evil smile and stepped towards him again.


    "MAAAA! MUMMMY!!" Don Munna recognized that his endurance and pride as a don was breaking down as he called for his mother, who he had left behind in his village.


    Soon after, the sound of pig slaughter and blows landing filled the alley and rose to the sky.